Dodgers, Yankees Among Teams Interested In Brendan Donovan

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…