Cardinals infielder/outfielder Brendan Donovan is set to undergo season-ending surgery tomorrow, per Katie Woo of The Athletic. Donovan has been dealing with a flexor tendon injury in his throwing arm recently, which had prevented him from throwing and relegated him to DH duties. Per Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat, Donovan should be ready to return from the surgery to correct that flexor strain before Spring Training 2024.
Donovan, 26, immediately made an impression upon making his big league debut with the Cardinals last season. He slashed a strong .281/.394/.379 in 126 games for the club, goo for a wRC+ of 129, while playing quality defense at all four infield spots and both outfield corners. That quality defense and versatility earned him a Gold Glove award last year, and those skills along with his knack for getting on base allowed him to finish third in NL Rookie of the Year award voting.
The 26-year-old utility ace took a slight step back at the plate in his sophomore season as he discipline for additional power. His walk rate dipped from a sterling 12.8% to a more pedestrian 8.9% this season, though his ISO ticked up from just .097 last year up to a more respectable .138 during the current campaign. That increase in power combined with his trademark versatility has allowed him to remain an above-average regular this year, with 2.1 fWAR in 371 trips to the plate.
Unfortunately, Donovan’s 2023 campaign has come to a premature end thanks to the aforementioned flexor strain, an ailment that prevented him from taking the field for nearly the entire month of July. The loss of Donovan for the season further damages the competitiveness of a Cardinals club that has already shipped out Jordan Montgomery, Jordan Hicks, Chris Stratton, and Paul DeJong out this trade season, with more deals expected before the deadline.
As things stand, the club figures to utilize Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Gorman, Tommy Edman, and Nolan Arenado in the infield with Jordan Walker, Alec Burleson, Lars Nootbaar, Tyler O’Neill, and Dylan Carlson all in the outfield/DH mix, though further trades ahead of the deadline could change that playing time picture.
Well there goes all of King of Cards trades sending him to everyone for their SP.
No they just have to wait until the offseason. Which is fine.
He will be back for more nonsense anyway
Lol they were keeping Donovan… he’s a winner
Too funny, the king of cards part.
Looks like the King of Carpet is getting WALKED ON!
Tragic, they were on the verge of trading him for 7 of the Orioles’ 8 top 100 prospects lol.
Jokes aside, I hope his surgery and rehab go well.
What’s tragic is every other contender is making moves and the Orioles aren’t doing squat.
We’ll see what, if anything, happens.
I trust Mike Elias’s judgement though. If he doesn’t find a deal he that he feels is fair, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.
It’s not about your sleep fella. It’s about winning. Maybe you will figure that out one day.
No offense “fella,” but I value Mike Elias’s judgement a lot more than yours.
I mean, you legitimately thought you were going to get the #12 prospect in all of baseball or something of similar value for a rental #3 starter lol.
Hey you still got all your prospects. You can take solace in that after you lose in the 1st round.
Sounds like Flaherty to the Orioles. Let’s see for what.
Orioles getting Flaherty.
This aged like milk as the Orioles just got your boy. Flaherty.
Who’s boy is Flaherty exactly?
This isn’t a surprise to anyone here dude.
Prieto is probably a bit of an overpay for 2 months of 2023 Flaherty but he was never going to get significant playing time here unless a bunch of stuff went wrong, so it’s fine I guess.
Hey I ain’t thrilled with this one either. I think the Dodgers would have made more sense he’s from the West Coast.
Wouldn’t know…he’s been muted!
Better outcome than a trade.
What a shame!! Very useful player
Better to do it now instead of waiting around to see if it gets better.
He’ll be ready for spring training.
Get healthy, he’s more valuable training in the offseason for next year than playing hurt the rest of this miserable season.
Had a feeling this was where it would end… hopefully surgery fixes problem and he comes back next year fresh
You don’t recover from that. He’s looking at a good 18 months and will never be the same.
You…you don’t even know what the surgery is yet?
Tendon repair surgery that is not Tommy John. Fully expected to be ready for Spring Training.
And your medical degree is from where? A holiday inn express?
@tominco I’ve been laughing at this for 15 minutes. I needed this comment today man, Thank you!!! lmao
Interesting take there. I think he can get the surgery and be just fine with rehab. Pitchers seem to do it a lot in today’s game.
@slider…you silly.
Hopefully everything goes smoothly. And it’s a speedy recovery.
Introducing Masin Wynn.
Rather see Masyn Winn.
You’d rather see Masyn winn what?
Exactly.
Atleast spell his name right if your going to introduce him. It is Masyn Winn. Not mason or masin and Win or Wynn as I keep seeing people spell his names. He has one and it is Masyn Winn
Dude his parents are the ones who spelled it wrong. Who cares? You know who he was talking about you are just being a tool.
I don’t know why but guy think he’s Joe Buck or something.
Dude wanted to introduce said player. I mean cmon if your going to introduce the guy atleast get it right. I’m the tool because I respect the man’s name he was given. Check yourself. The only tool would be bashing his parents for their decision of their kids name. They aren’t wrong cause of how they choose to spell it. It’s their decision and for them their isn’t any right or wrong yet I see so many people spell it wrong that if your going to introduce him maybe help those that continue to spell it wrong. Whatever tho let’s just hope he becomes a name worth knowing and some. Hopefully they spell it right on his hall plaque. Then it would be worth the trouble knowing he became a HOFer
Dude do you have something to say or not?
I don’t care how they chose to spell it. But don’t act like someone is wrong for not knowing that they spelled it wrong.
I already said what I had to say. And I’m not acting like he is wrong for not knowing. I’m just stating the correct way to spell it so it doesn’t continue to be something like how people do edman still to this day wrong. It just makes you come off as uneducated when you can’t spell the player you are talking about correctly thus making any input you have afterwards as less knowledgeable. Just trying to help him know.
And you misspelled for and the and win.
Actually I spelled Winn right it is a play on words. I’ll give you the 4da but that’s just to shorten the screen name which is common computer language practice.
It’s not as bad as the folks who refer to Tommy Edmonds??? 🙂
Haha amen to that. My grandpa does this along with Paul Goldstein. Drives me crazy sometimes so my apologies to those I take it out on.
Nah, they still don’t need to rush him. Unless another position player is traded, the Cardinals now have a mostly set group of position player starters for the rest of the season:
C: Contreras
1B: Goldschmidt
2B: Gorman
SS; Edman
3B: Arenado
LF: O’Neill
CF: Nootbaar/Carlson
RF: Nootbaar/Burleson
DH: Walker
This is the correct structure.. Walker is a huge liability in the field, and I don’t think reps are going to make it much better. The sooner our fan base accepts that he is 30HR DH and not the next iteration of Albert Pujols, the better.
Nail in the coffin for the 2023 Cardinals. All those good bats and nothing to show for it.
Hahaha I think if we’re still putting nails in the 2023 cards’ coffin then that’s one sealed tight box.
It’s such a weak division and they have so much talent that I really thought up until mid-July they could get hot and make a run for it.
47 wins to show for it!
Nah, the nails were in the coffin already. This is more like throwing dirt on the coffin.
Hopefully he’ll be back full strength next year. This season was going to spiral downward when the already thin pitching was shipped out.
Mozeliak thanks Donovan for giving him an excuse to halt the sell-off.
I kind of had a feeling this was happening and kind of planned out already. He’s been hurt for a while, and I think the idea is it gives him more time to be good to go for spring training plus opens up another slot on the field to see new faces, make more room to see what we have. For once.
I was really at a loss as to why they weren’t getting it done sooner. The season was in the tank, The longer they wait the more his 2024 is in peril. You have to wonder what was going through their heads? SMH
It wouldn’t have surprised me if Cashman traded for this guy then find out he’s done for the year. Much like the useless Montas Trade
Looks like Motter will be getting more playing time.
Not really, as Gorman and Edman will still get most of the playing time in the middle infield. That was going to be true whether or not Donovan was clogging up the DH spot.
I’m counting 4 open roster spots heading into tonight’s game, 3 pitchers. Who is taking those spots?
What is the explicable bromance between Marmol and Taylor Motter? Why is he ever starting over Gorman? He can’t hit – period.
I think Gorman might be nursing a sore back I saw.