Jul 24, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Brendan Donovan (33) is congratulated by teammates after hitting a three run home run against the San Diego Padres during the second inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

When Ex-GM Expects Cardinals To Trade Brendan Donovan

Originally posted on St. Louis Cardinals on SI
By Patrick McAvoy | Last updated Dec 9, 2025 8:23 AM ET

There are still a few days before the winter meetings come to an end.

As of writing, it’s still the calm before the storm. There hasn’t been a big-time deal that has gotten done yet. But the St. Louis Cardinals have been in their fair share of trade rumors, and there's still plenty of time left to change that.

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Brendan Donovan, Willson Contreras, and Nolan Arenado remain the team’s biggest trade candidates. On Monday, former general manager and current insider with The Athletic, Jim Bowden joined "Foul Territory" to discuss the trade market of the week

"I think what we're looking at, two most likely guys to be traded out of the gate, Brendan Donovan of the Cardinals and MacKenzie Gore of the (Washington Nationals)," Bowden said. "I'm expecting them to be the first two guys traded."

Biggest storylines from @JimBowdenGM...

• Expects Donovan/Gore to be traded
• Yankees are waiting to pounce

"We got the real out of Cashman. It's gonna be Tucker or Bellinger, maybe Bichette, maybe Bregman, maybe Ketel Marte. We're going to get another starting pitcher." pic.twitter.com/3R0BE6gDVH
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) December 8, 2025

Ahead of the trade deadline, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the Kansas City Royals, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Houston Astros, and the Cleveland Guardians all showed some level of interest in Donovan, among others.

"I mean, look, the list of teams that are interested in Donovan," Goold said. "You have the Royals, you have the Yankees, you have the Dodgers, you have the Astros, you have Cleveland there. There were a handful of other teams that were at least circling him. At least one of them I spoke to knows that there could be the cost of a starting pitcher."

There has been growing buzz around Donovan over the last few weeks. It's not hard to see why. Donovan is just 28 years old and is coming off a season in which he slashed .287/.353/.422 with 10 homers, 50 RBIs, 32 doubles, and 64 runs scored. Donovan was an All-Star at second base, but he actually can play elite defense all over the field. In 2025, he mainly played second base, along with left field and shortstop. But he also has experience at third base, right field, and first base.

This article first appeared on St. Louis Cardinals on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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