Dodgers, Yankees among teams interested in All-Star utilityman

Cardinals utilityman Brendan Donovan is drawing trade interest from the Dodgers, Yankees and multiple other teams, the Athletic’s Katie Woo reports. St. Louis is open to listening to offers, yet a deal may be on the less likely side since Donovan is arbitration-controlled through 2027 and the Cardinals’ “asking price is sky-high” for the All-Star.

Along these same lines, the Cards are prioritizing moving pitchers, namely one of the multiple arms (Ryan Helsley, Phil Maton, Steven Matz, or Miles Mikolas) who are eligible for free agency after the season. Erick Fedde is also within that group, but the righty is already on waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week. When it comes to moving position players, Woo writes that the Cards “will not part with one of their position players unless they are blown away by the offer, and their conversations have not progressed past initial check-ins.” This more limited type of trade discussion extends to Donovan and other position players like Ivan Herrera, Alec Burleson and Lars Nootbaar, who are all “gathering varying levels of interest.”

This is far from the first time Donovan’s name has appeared in trade rumors, and the Yankees’ interest in his services dates back to at least the 2023-24 offseason. The Cardinals’ surplus of multi-positional middle infield types in recent years has naturally made rival teams curious about several of those players, and it was just a year ago at the trade deadline that St. Louis dealt from that group in moving Tommy Edman to the Dodgers. That three-team swap also involving the White Sox ended up being one of the most noteworthy trades of last year’s deadline, given how Edman and Michael Kopech ended up playing key roles in Los Angeles’ World Series championship.

Now in his fourth MLB season, Donovan made an immediate impact from the jump, finishing third in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2022 and winning the first-ever utility Gold Glove. He has remained a consistently steady level of offense while playing primarily against right-handed pitching, and Donovan is batting .293/.360/.428 with nine homers over 423 plate appearances this season. These already solid numbers might not reflect his full offensive capability this year, as Donovan’s .363 xwOBA is better than his .344 wOBA. Donovan doesn’t make much solid contact, but he is one of the league’s harder players to strike out.

Beyond Donovan’s hitting, his ability to play multiple positions makes him particularly valuable to both the Cardinals and any possible trade suitors. The big majority of his playing time has come at second base and in left field, but Donovan has also logged innings at the other three infield positions and in right field.

This defensive versatility and Donovan’s left-handed bat make him more or less an ideal fit for the Dodgers’ needs, as the Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya notes that L.A. would indeed like to add a left-handed hitting outfielder to its position-player mix. Donovan’s ability to play second base makes him even more attractive for the Dodgers purposes since if he was used at the keystone, Edman would be utilized more primarily as an outfielder, and Andy Pages would move from center to a corner outfield slot. Max Muncy could be returning from the injured list within a couple of weeks anyway, but Donovan could also help out at the third base position until Muncy is back in action.

Hypothetically, it wouldn’t be out of the question to see Los Angeles again try to land both a versatile position player and a reliever from the Cardinals, since Ardaya writes that the Dodgers are still prioritizing bullpen help as their main deadline need. This is pure speculation on my part, but since the Dodgers have also been linked to Helsley’s trade market, L.A. could possibly attempt to pry both Helsley and Donovan away at once. Addressing two needs in a single deal might make the Dodgers a little more open to putting one of their top prospects on the table, as Ardaya wrote earlier this week that L.A. is understandably wary about offering either Dalton Rushing or Alex Freeland in any trade.

New York’s past interest in Donovan notwithstanding, Woo notes that the Yankees may no longer have Donovan on the radar now that Ryan McMahon is wearing the pinstripes. The most recent supporting suggests that the Yankees are now looking to add a right-handed hitter in the wake of acquiring McMahon (a left-handed hitting third baseman) from the Rockies Friday. It could be that Donovan might now be a luxury for the Yankees only if they were to make some other move in the name of lineup balance, though New York probably shouldn’t be entirely ruled out just because Donovan is still a broad upgrade to the roster as a whole.

Donovan and Nootbaar are both under team control through 2027, Burleson through 2028, and Herrera through 2029. It makes sense that the Cardinals are loath to part with any of these players who may contribute both in the future, and even for the rest of this season, as St. Louis is only 1.5 games back of a wild card slot. Trading an impending free agent pitcher to address another present need is the club’s preferred situation, as the Cards look to be both buying and selling before the July 31 deadline.