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The St. Louis Cardinals are sitting pretty right now.
St. Louis has one of the most popular trade candidates in baseball right now in Brendan Donovan. Brandon Lowe, Donovan, and Ketel Marte have been the most talked-about trade candidates in the infield. Lowe has been traded already and Marte’s market had cold water thrown on it on Tuesday by general manager Mike Hazen.
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“I haven’t figured that out yet,” Hazen said of the timeline, as transcribed by Hazen. “But this isn’t going to continue to linger. We need to focus our offseason. Again, my gut this whole time was that (a Ketel Marte trade) wasn’t going to happen, and I think it seems likely that that’s the case and we want to focus on other things we need to do.”
The Cardinals star is available
That should be music to Cardinals fans’ ears. St. Louis boasts arguably the top realistic trade candidate in baseball right now. Tarik Skubal would be that guy, but that doesn’t actually seem realistic. So, St. Louis has a high-end trade chip and the competition should be even stiffer now. But, when will fans know more? The Athletic’s Katie Woo and Will Sammon said to expect to hear more in the “next couple of weeks.”
“No deal with any team appears to be close, but with the Contreras trade completed, St. Louis will shift back to making Donovan a priority. Expect trade talks to pick up over the next couple of weeks,” Woo and Sammon.
This is a dream scenario for the Cardinals. Donovan has multiple years of control and should have plenty of potential trade options ahead of them. But if no one meets the club’s lofty asking price, that’s alright as well. The club could easily keep him around to help lead this young group in 2026 and then make a move ahead of the trade deadline or next offseason. The Cardinals aren’t up against a time crunch, which helps even more.
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