Cardinals Have Real Chance Of Trading Star-Studded Duo

On Sunday, ESPN's Jeff Passan shared a flood of updates on Threads about various free agents and trade candidates. When it came to the guys who could get traded, Passan split them up into three groups: "probably-won’t-go," "will-they-be-traded," and "where-will-they-go." Arenado and Donovan both fell into the "where-will-they-go" category.

"Trade options: With a Tarik Skubal deal exceedingly unlikely, the attention will turn to three groups," Passan wrote on Threads. "The probably-won’t-go (Freddy Peralta, Hunter Greene, Byron Buxton, Steven Kwan), the will-they-be-traded (Ketel Marte, Jarren Duran, Joe Ryan, Pablo Lopez), and the where-will-they-go (Brendan Donovan, Luis Robert Jr., Jeff McNeil, Nolan Arenado). Plenty more coming Tuesday on this topic at ESPN dot com."

Recently, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported, citing an anonymous source, that more than half of the league is interested in Donovan and the number could jump as high as 22 teams. Because of this, it's not shocking that Passan listed Donovan as a player in the "where-will-they-go" category. If there is a big enough market and bidding war, the Cardinals should consider all options.

It's a little more surprising for Arenado. It's not shocking that he's in trade rumors and he even made it sound towards the end of the season that he would be more open to waiving his no-trade clause. But there wasn't much of a market for him in general last offseason. There were rumors, but not much concrete interest, and then Arenado struggled offensively in 2025. That's why Passan's update on Arenado is at least a bit surprising because what could the market look like? Passan didn't mention teams, but it sounds like one of the top insiders in the game thinks he will be on the move.