It appears that the St. Louis Cardinals are going to be in a position this offseason to trade one of their best players and cash in on his value. Cardinals All-Star 2nd baseman/Outfielder Brendan Donovan is generating “massive” interest across the league from rival teams, according to reports. While personally, this bums me out to say the least, it is an opportunity to bring in some much-needed pitching help the Cardinals desperately seek to return themselves to perennial contender status.
Just what type of value are we looking at for Donovan? That’s the big question most fans have on their minds as we anticipate the execution of this deal. A fair comp to Brendan Donovan would be a player Chaim Bloom was all too familiar with from his days in Tampa Bay. Ben Zobrist was a literal Swiss Army Knife in the field and an on-base machine throughout his career. That feels like a loose translation of Brendan Donovan, and knowing that Zobrist was traded a couple of times in his career, I went back and looked at a Zobrist deal that would be comparable to where the Cardinals’ asking price should be.
Brendan Donovan will play in his age-29 season in 2026, and I went back and looked at how both Donovan and Zobrist compare through their age-28 seasons.
Zobrist; 297 G, 1129 PA’s, 42 HR, 148 RBI, 11.4 B%, 16.7 K%, .260/.346/.459, .349 wOBA, 113 wRC+, 8.3 fWAR
Donovan; 492 G, 2006 PA’s, 40 HR, 202 RBI, 9 B%, 13.5 K%, .282/.361/.411, .340 wOBA, 119 wRC+, 10.1 fWAR
On July 28, 2015, the Oakland Athletics traded Ben Zobrist to the Kansas City Royals for Sean Manaea (#56 prospect in all of baseball, according to MLB Pipeline) and Aaron Brooks. This, of course, was a rental deal as Zobrist was a pending FA at season’s end, and Brendan Donovan, if traded this offseason, will have 2 full seasons to offer his acquiring club. That amount of control, combined with the established precedent for a Ben Zobrist-type player, should allow the Cardinals to acquire something that will significantly influence their club in the near future.
Wrecklessly speculating on names feels like a bit of a fool’s errand at this point, given the widespread interest in Donovan that could come in various ways from various clubs. Though with that much interest, perhaps a bidding war breaks out amongst clubs, and the Cardinals could receive overpays from clubs to acquire Donovan’s services. Teams like Houston, Los Angeles (Dodgers), New York (Yankees), and Cleveland have all been publicly connected to Donovan. In 2025, Donovan posted 2.9 fWAR, and I examined teams where Donovan would be an upgrade at 2B, 3B, and LF and could relatively be expected to be competitive in 2026. Those teams included the Sacramento (Las Vegas) Athletics, Detroit Tigers, Seattle Mariners, if they don’t re-sign Eugenio Suarez, and the Texas Rangers.
Only one thing seems certain at this point, and it’s that Brendan Donovan will, unfortunately, be wearing a different jersey in 2026, but the positive is that the Cardinals and Chaim Bloom are in a great position to take advantage of a market that seems to be falling all over itself to get the Cardinals’ hottest commodity.
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