The Astros are back in the mix for Brendan Donovan, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. That’s not surprising, as Houston’s interest in the St. Louis utility player has dated back to at least the trade deadline.
Donovan is an obvious target. The Astros skew very right-handed. They tried to balance the lineup with the deadline trade for Jesús Sánchez from the Marlins. Sánchez was terrible down the stretch and is probably going to be traded or non-tendered within the next week. That leaves the Astros with only Yordan Alvarez as an everyday left-handed bat. Rookie outfielders Zach Cole or Jacob Melton could play their way into the mix, but it’s clear that adding a lefty hitter will be a priority.
There are few better ones known to be available in trade than Donovan. The 28-year-old (29 in January) is coming off a .287/.353/.422 slash across 515 plate appearances. He’s a career .282/.361/.411 hitter over four seasons. Donovan has enough power for 10-15 home runs and 30+ doubles, while he’s a safe bet to hit for average because of his excellent contact skills. Like most lefty hitters, he’s far better against right-handed pitching, but he has reached base at a reasonable .325 clip against southpaws in his career. He fits at the top of a lineup against righties and is playable if unspectacular against same-handed pitchers.
[Related: Top 40 Trade Candidates]
Donovan has the multi-positional versatility to fit any number of teams. He’s already been linked to the Guardians and Royals this offseason. The Yankees and Dodgers have shown interest in the past. MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk examined various other possibilities last month. Houston would use him mostly at his natural second base position, where they don’t really have an everyday player. They’re still planning to move Jose Altuve between second and left field, where he and Alvarez would divide time when the other isn’t at designated hitter. Donovan can play both corner outfield positions as well, and some teams could feel he’s capable of holding his own at either spot on the left side of the infield.
The Cardinals are committing to a retool under first-year president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom. Donovan is down to his last two seasons of club control. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him for a $5.4MM salary. That’ll likely jump into the $8-10MM range for 2027. There’s no indication the Cards will seriously pursue an extension, so an offseason trade seems likely given the amount of interest they’ll receive from teams currently in contention windows. Among their realistic trade candidates (i.e. not including Masyn Winn), Donovan has the best chance of netting an impactful prospect return.
I mean if you’re gonna send cam down to AAA I guess he fits
Feels more like a precursor to an eventual Walker trade.
If anyone would actually trade for him barring the astros picking up significant change
That or a bad contract swap but yeah. It would be worth it.
Maybe Asterisks can trade Sanchez back to Fish for crumbs?
Walker left the DBacks to sigh with the Astros. How is that connected to the Fish? Not quite a top MLB commenter, I guess.
Drdback
Guess you failed to read the fifth and sixth sentences of this article about Asterisks’ unsuccessful trade-deadline acquisition of Jesus Sanchez from the Marlins and that they may need to non-tender or trade him next week?
In best homer simpson voice
*mmmm bread crumbs*
Possibly.
Send em Melton for him
Maybe there could be a few names shared of young pitching prospects the Astros have to offer? Pretty sure every team could use Donovan, a very solid bat and excellent defender. Do the Astros have any enticing arms to win the Brendan Donovan auction?
this is my question. they talk about everyone’s interest, but the Cardinals aren’t going to trade him for 3 or 4 scrubs
Odds are out of 3 or 4 scrubs at least one hits… Like when the Brewers traded Adam Lind
“there all slapdicks till there not”- Trevor Plouffe
Astros dont have any pitchers in the top 100 prospects list, I would rather trade with the Royals or Guardians
Shelby Miller, Alex Reyes, Drew Pomeranz, and Luke Weaver were all top 100 prospects that flopped. Being top 100 is only as good as the output. Yeah generally speaking youll get more from those guys, they have a higher ceiling, but sometimes those wild card guys like Jim Edmonds, Spencer Strider, Paul Goldschmidt, Framber Valdez, Jose Rameriez, Jose Altuve, Kentel Marte and Christopher Sanchez end up being huge
Top 100’s just have more value
The Royals don’t have anything near a top 100 pitching prospect. Young ML starter possibly.
With the stros you could potentially get Cam Smith or Brice Matthews back. Both capable of playing the outfield or infield.
Brice Matthews-Possibly
Cam Smith-Never going to happen, and I’d hate 4 that to happen.
Miguel Ullola, Anderson Brito, Ryan Forcucci.
(Top 10 Arms)
Feels like most every team could benefit by adding him. Braves please? That would be cool.
With our influx of infielders and fact Dana even said NOT TRADING WALKER OR PAREDES. Altuve needs to be 2nd. Use Cole in LF or something. Or Dezenzo. Altuve is not what needs to be in LF nor Alvarez. Alvarez DH. Will Houston do anything with Dubon. Maybe is Jake tradeable now while he was hot this recent season. We have Urias, Correa, Altuve, Paredes, Walker, Dubon all for the infield. Outfield: Cam if he wakes up or not. Myself should have gone to Corpus like was supposed to last season. Also, we have Cole, Melton, Dezenzo. Cole was great last season. Give him a full season to see what can do. Melton was not same after his injury. Dezenzo was out a good bit of 2nd half. So not sure on what will be like. We know Sanchez could be non-tendered or traded. I do wonder what he could get us if traded. I know with what Dana has done so far has not been great and has us in a pinch money wise. So if this is his last hurrah and Espada too. Neither have been good at all for the team.
Dana never said he n woukd not trade Walker. I know he said rhat about Parades.
He is quoted as saying Walker would be the first baseman next season.
Donovan is a utility player who plays both infield and outfield. He slots in alot of places around the diamond but most notably, left field, second base, right field, third base and short stop pretty much in that order through his career. He can provide depth, fill in during injury and play any of these positions well
Astros have a gold glover for that role already
You dont read very well… Cam Smith, Yordan Alverez, Cooper Hummel, and Issac Paredes have never won a gold glove. Altuve won one 10 years ago, Jeremy Pena won one in his rookie year in 2022 and Carlos Correa won one in 2021 and Christian walker won three in a rowin 22,23, and 24…. Brendan Donovan can play all those positions and won a glove glove as a utility player in 2022 playing 3rd, 2nd, 1st, SS, LF, RF…. lord have mercy
Astros have a need for a lefty bat who can hit for power and average. I dont think Donovan will end up in houston however. I believe bloom will want more for him than Houston can offer
It seems you don’t read very well either. Mauricio Dubon has won two Gold Gloves, and played every position except pitcher and catcher. He is the best utility player in baseball.
He doesn’t bat left handed and when hes healthy… Id take Donovan over Dubon any day. Hes been worth 3 more WAR in 3 less seasons than Dubon. But it also just makes it more likely that the Astros won’t land Donovan thats all. I see him going to the royals
Donovan happens to be an unusual, All-Star. The utility moniker fails to see his meaningful talent. If the Cards move him it better be for some valuable return or else it is a bad deal.
Dubon does that.
It’s gonna sound like blasphemy but I’ll say it: we should’ve let Altuve walk after 2024. That 5/125 is an albatross and is the type of deal we’ve historically avoided. Yes, he’s a franchise icon but he’s not worth 4/100 over the next 4 seasons.
Zach Cole goes to right. Arm grade is 70/80.
The astros dont have the prospects to trade for him. Nothing to see here.
Brown actually said he was not trading Paredes; he didn’t say he wasn’t trading Walker, he just said that he’s our 1B as of now. Cole is unproven, same with Melton. Sanchez is on his way out. Look for Donovan, if he’s acquired to be a regular corner outfielder and possibly add some flexibility around the infield. Like it or not he is better than all the other outfielders until proven otherwise
The Astros dont have a lot to trade but they have some guys. Melton would be interesting. Neyens would make some sense. Perhaps both Donovan and Nootbaar for Melton, Neyens and a couple pitchers.
As a fanbase, we are likely biased towards our teams in trades. I’m telling you, the Astros won’t drop Xavier Neyens. They’ll drop either Melton or Matthews
Statcast had Altuve more playable at 2B than LF. 2B is probably a harder position to play skill wise but the Dodgers thought moving Mookie to the infield was easier on his body. If you really need a left handed infielder, Donovan makes sense. But if you could accommodate a left handed hitter in the OF, there are options in free agency. Grisham? A little cheaper than Bellinger I’d think. Either of those two feel like left handed versions of Bregman, Paredes, Altuve’s pull the ball in the air types. I don’t know if that profile works as much from the left side in Houston. Maybe you want more raw power from your lefties like Yordan and even Jesus Sanchez or just go with the contact profile like Donovan. But Tucker worked in Houston. I gave them Grisham in the contest with that in mind.
Grisham’s batting average scares me. He had the short porch last year and took advantage of it but that was kind of an anomaly season for him. I do agree with you though there are better options for a left-handed hitting outfielder than Brandon Donovan. Tucker is not gonna happen, Bellinger sure would be nice. Hopefully the Astro’s process is that they’re gonna save the big expenditures for pitching. If that is the case then Donovan certainly would help.
I guess Bellinger really scares me more. Grisham at least has under the hood metrics that support his performance. But it was a pretty major shape change for him. At least he walks and always has. If Bellinger’s softly hit fly balls stop going over the wall, it feels like a house of cards waiting to collapse. There’s risk in either. But if this site’s predictions of $140m through his age 34 season for Bellinger and $66m through his age 32 season for Grisham are where the contracts land, I’d prefer Grisham. I wasn’t really sure if the Astros would want a Bellinger sized contract after taking Correa back. But either guy is still young and I figured if the Astros are going to spend, it’ll be on guys who still have some prime left.
Obviously you want the amount of risk that you’re taking to match the salary. Bellinger probably is out of their reach anyway because of the Correa move, which I don’t think was wise. The Astros portion of his contract is too much for sub .750 OPS regardless of what he brings defensively
If Astrso sign Trent Grisham, I’m going to cry.
Cards dont have a very good history with Astros, and the Astros do not have anything to trade. Hope we shy away from that one!
Card fans here is a mock trade:
Sounds like you need pitching so here is a young pitcher from the Yankees who was in the rotation all season and looks the part as a mid rotation arm.
Will Warren for Donovan is the trade idea.
Thoughts ??
Fair swap.
The Cards. won’t accept. They will push 4 more. Will Warren and another top prosepct or two sounds about it.
Donovan isn’t a star. He’s a 3 WAR 2B w/ 2 years of control. I think Will Warren should be enough. 5 years of a guy with #3 upside. Already established himself as a #4
It’s too bad they didn’t move Nolan Gorman when he had some value. His defense is bad and he strikes out too much.
If you trade 4 him. You lose prosepcts for a trade for a starting pitcher unless you get someone like Dylan Cease.
But it’s the way to bolster offense