The St. Louis Cardinals are at the crossroads: either keep trying to contend, or hit the big red button and blow up. With the Cards’ new GM being Chaim Bloom, it seems the latter is much more possible.
If so, that means they’ll start trading their aging roster. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal believes one of the first people they’ll move is the Cards’ All-Star second baseman, Brendan Donovan, who has two years of arbitration left on his contract.
“Infielder/outfielder Brendan Donovan was the Cardinals’ lone All-Star this season, but with only two years of club control remaining, he looms as a prime trade candidate. As good an example as Donovan is for the Cardinals’ younger players, Donovan might depart as a free agent by the time the team is good again. One of the Cardinals’ problems the past two years is that they’ve gone only halfway in rebuilding efforts. And it hasn’t worked,” Rosenthal wrote.
This season, Donovan has slashed .281/.348/.407/.755 with 26 doubles, 10 home runs, and 60 RBI. A lot of teams would love to have Donovan, as he’s a solid offensive hitter who broke out this year.
Donovan would only be the first domino to fall, though. The Cards would have to move other vets like Nolan Arenado as well, and fully commit to building around players like Ivan Herrera, Alec Burleson and Mason Wynn.
Hopefully the Cards fully commit this offseason, and get a ton of prospects in return to retry building a powerhouse in the future.
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