After a fast start with Sonny Gray being traded from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Boston Red Sox, the trade market has slowed to a crawl. There are, however, two changes to the potential trade market that could affect what the St. Louis Cardinals do with Brendan Donovan.
As I shared a few days ago, the two teams that have emerged as front-runners for the services of Brendan Donovan are the San Francisco Giants and the Seattle Mariners according to Katie Woo. It’s just been shared today by MLB Trade Rumors that the San Francisco Giants are now interested in Nico Hoerner of the Chicago Cubs. That’s based on a report from Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. We already knew that the Giants were looking at Ketel Marte along with Brendan Donovan, but this is a new twist.
The other new twist in the market for second basemen is the news that free agent Bo Bichette is now open to playing second base. That means it’s entirely possible that both the Seattle Mariners and San Francisco Giants could turn their attention from giving up prospects for the second baseman they need to a big free agent signing like Bichette. He will likely command a big multi-year payday, but most of the teams I’ve seen connected to interest in Brendan Donovan have the deep pockets to make it happen.
The other new revelation involving Brendan Donovan which really is only a clarification of where the Cardinals stand comes from Jeff Passan. His analysis on ESPN says that “the Cardinals have set specific terms for him and have no desire to waver”. That’s all fine and good and no doubt the St. Louis Cardinals should not accept a mediocre deal, but it now appears there are new factors for all the teams involved in the second baseman market to consider.
The consensus among many writers and MLB executives seems to be that Brendan Donovan will almost certainly get traded by the St. Louis Cardinals. It’s the where and for whom questions that continue to loom large as we all watch this waiting game play out.
