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Happy 29th Birthday, Brendan Donovan!
The closest comp for Donovan might be Philadelphia infielder Bryson Stott, who was born nine months later in 1997.
Donovan and Stott are lefthand-hitting infielders with precisely 4.00 years of MLB service. Donovan and the Cardinals have agreed to a 2026 salary of $5.8 million while Stott and the Phillies have agreed to a 2026 salary of $5.9 million.
Donovan has posted 11.1 bWAR and 10.1 fWAR in 492 MLB games while Stott has posted 10.3 bWAR and 10.3 fWAR in 572 MLB games.
FanGraphs projects Donovan with a 2026 WAR of 2.9 in 134 games this year after Donovan posted 2.9 fWAR in 188 games last year.
FanGraphs projects Stott with a 2026 WAR of 2.7 in 144 games this year after Stott posted 3.1 fWAR in 147 games last year.
Donovan and Stott have below-league-average strikout rates of 13.5 and 16.7 percent for their careers. Donovan holds a clear edge in career edge in wRC+ at 119 to 93, but Stott makes up the difference with superior defensive metrics.
Donovan and Stott each have two years of team control. Baseball Trade Values assigns Donovan a surplus value of $31.5 million and Stott a surplus value of $27.5 million.
A St. Louis podcaster thought the Phillies might be interested in Donovan after “losing out” on Bo Bichette. Philadelphia would seem to be an unlikely trade destination.
Impressive that Donovan got into 188 games last year!
Edit-I didn’t realize Stott had been that solid.Impressive that Donovan got into 188 games last year!
Good catch. Of course Brendan Donovan was limited to 118 games last year.
Over his four-year tenure in St. Louis, Donovan has not played in nearly 25 percent of the Cardinals’ games (the rough cumulative equivalent of one entire season).
Over 2,000 PA’s in 4 seasons is fine. If we were targeting an outfielder with the same PA’s, i wouldn’t have playing time concerns.
JoJo for Jordan Hicks is a serious bullpen upgrade for BOS and Hicks limited value is dragging along a 2/24mil remaining contract total. BOS is eyeing their CBT total now, funds are getting tighter.
To gain leverage with BOS, Bloom could propose assuming 10.6mil of Hicks in 2026, which is sending Donny & JoJo paid in full for 2026. Bos eats the remainder on Hicks, and Stl dfa’s Hicks, plays him, flips him, whatever.
The BOS 2026 budget just added Donny & JoJo at no cost. Who did we receive in return from the “buy my prospects” isle?
Just saw a video with Rosenthal dissinbg Bloom for his handling Donovan trade. I think I remember him being critical of the Cardinals before
The Cardinals appear to have set a high price (top prospect(s) for Donovan which is absolutely the right thing to do, he is under a cheap deal for 2 more years and there is ample time to make a trade.
I doubt they really care what TV bowtie thinks.
Donovan had a better season vs rhp’s in 25′, than Kyle Tucker. Same obp, slightly better SLG and wRC+. Tucker had 50-ish more PA’s.
I hope the lack of new speculation/rumors on Donnie and Jojo isn’t a sign of “nothing is gonna happen”.
This might be known as the offseason we rebuilt the infield. Contreras, Arenado and Donny out, JJ in.
CIF, why do you hope that? Assets for 2028-our lifetimes are more important than a 31 year old FA when they might stop sucking!
I love him, but realize it’s moronic to keep him. Fact.
The question is, as always, if they are going to trade him when will they be able to maximize the return?
There is absolutely no question in my mind that trading Donovan is the right thing to do on paper to potentially bring back the most long term value. Keeping him risks injury and almost assuredly lowers his total trade value.
However l, I still wouldn’t do it unless we can get a true haul for him. Baseball isn’t played on paper. And what Brendon Donovan brings to this team is very difficult to replace. I’m talking about all the immeasurable stuff. The stuff hidden between the stat lines. And that stuff can have a long lasting impact on the players around him and the overall team for the next decade with or without Brendan Donovan present. The work ethic, the hustle, the life experiences, and the fortitude and tenacity. That stuff percolates from Donovan and gets absorbed by everyone around him. He effectively makes everyone else a little better. There’s an awful lot of value in a player who can do that. So no. I probably would not trade Donovan. Guys like him are hard to replace.
Bloom is waiting for another team to get desperate enough to overpay for Donovan. My sense from the weekend is that they are willing to let it play out, however long it takes.
I probed the people side and Bloom says he is staying close to Donovan and that he has been “awesome” about it. Bloom would not put a deadline on it (ala Marte). Teammates were positive about his leadership, but no one seemed overly concerned about it (which is good because it could become a distraction otherwise). And it will probably become one anyway if this drags on through spring camp. Donovan could stay away from WWU, but he will be (unfairly) peppered with questions about it in Jupiter.
Bloom told me yesterday that he was happy to get past the WWU weekend (he had something like 16 speaking commitments) and get back to work, as he said he still has a lot to do.
It’s not easy to overpay for 30mil of surplus value. Equal value on Donny is a very good return, if CB can get it lined up.
Donovan could still bring a pretty good yield at the trade deadline, especially if he’s playing more like he did early last year for a longer period of time (he was tracking for a 4+ WAR season). As is, we will see if anyone else thinks the potential upside is worth the prospect risk. No one has, yet.
For anyone that wants to keep him or JoJo through the deadline, there is a big issue called an injury, or a decline, especially on a losing team.
If they would’ve traded Helsley last winter, they would’ve gotten a heck of a lot more back than they did. Even though in the end, it did seem the Cardinals won that one based on how he performed in Queens.
This is a chip you can’t risk that long on and take that risk nor is JoJo.
Bloom basically needs to send a text today, saying “We will be making our decision on Donnie and Jojo at 1/21/26 at 3pm CST, if you’re still interested in one or both, we can announce that evening. You know what type of players/prospects we want”
Sometimes you need to tell people regardless of being a president of baseball operations or a CEO of the company that they need to shit or get off the pot
Keeping the lines of communication open is Blooms job. He’s all about the long-term, with a 5yr get out of jail free card in his pocket that allows him to “let it play out”.
Bloom basically needs to send a text today, saying “We will be making our decision on Donnie and Jojo at 1/21/26 at 3pm CST, if you’re still interested in one or both, we can announce that evening. You know what type of players/prospects we want”
Sometimes you need to tell people regardless of being a president of baseball operations or a CEO of the company that they need to shit or get off the pot.
Perhaps potential trade partners could send the St. Louis front office a similar text.
Perhaps those texts have already been sent.
I disagree on Helsley CFCT. Relievers are often worth about the same at the deadline as in Spring Training. It’s just a matter of supply and demand. I doubt the Cardinals got any less for Helsley by waiting. The only thing they lost is some $ in salary they paid Helsley.
It is different for position players though and so Donovan is worth more now.
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