Cardinals 27-Year-Old 'Worth Having' Blockbuster Trade Conversation

Will the Cardinals consider moving the young utility man?

Feb 26, 2021; Jupiter, Florida, USA; A general view of the St. Louis Cardinals logo on the stadium at Roger Dean Stadium during spring training workouts. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images / Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images

The St. Louis Cardinals haven't shaken things up quite yet.

St. Louis entered the offseason by letting the world know what its plan was. The Cardinals wanted to "reset" the organization this offseason and for the 2025 season before Chaim Bloom becomes the team's president of baseball operations after the season ends.

The most obvious trade piece that has been discussed is Nolan Arenado but there was a time when pretty much every veteran on the roster was mentioned as a trade candidate. While this is the case, both Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras made it known they didn't want to be moved and they have no-trade clauses.

Now it's really up in the air what the team is going to do. It does seem like Arenado will be dealt because of the volume of trade chatter. But will any other Cardinals big-name players get traded?

Just Baseball's Caleb Moody took a look at the roster and separated players into buckets of different likelihoods of getting traded. One player who he said is "worth having the conversation" is just utility man Brendan Donovan.

"Donovan is another name that makes complete sense for St. Louis to keep this year," Moody said. "While he has fallen off a bit at the plate from his 2022 form, when he posted a 127 wRC+, he was still an above-average and versatile player around the diamond in 2024. He hit .278 with a .759 OPS and 115 wRC+, posting a career-high 3.2 fWAR, more than doubling his total from last year...

"St. Louis will also have to account for the fact that by 2026 they could have Masyn Winn, Nolan Gorman, Just Baseball’s No. 24 overall prospect JJ Wetherholt, and No. 100 overall prospect Thomas Saggese all potentially needing big-league at-bats in the infield. And then in the outfield, they could have names like Jordan Walker, Alec Burleson, and Victor Scott, along with (Lars Nootbaar), to find ABs for. With all of these names being younger options than Donovan, the Cards may look to cash in sooner rather than later on the nearly 28-year-old utility man while they can still get a prime return for him."

A deal doesn't seem likely as Moody mentioned, but this does sound like a logical idea.

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