While there is some news on the Kyle Tucker front this week (including some scuttlebutt about the Dodgers), I’m going to use this opportunity to revisit a player who has made a couple of appearances on this weblog this offseason.
I’m talking about Brendan Donovan, and I’m warming up to the idea of the Dodgers acquiring him.
Donovan, 29, on Friday, is mostly a second baseman for the Cardinals, but he has ample time on the left side of the diamond and a bat that’s better than most might think. He debuted in 2022 and has posted a .282/.361/.411 batting line with a 119 wRC+. That wRC+ mark is line with the likes of Riley Greene, Ian Happ and Eugenio Suarez. The dude can swing it a bit. He also has the 12th-best Contact% in baseball in that time (86.8%) and 10th-best Z-Contacat% (93.4%).
Here’s what I wrote about him when looking at outfield possibilities earlier this offseason.
“He hit .287/.353/.422 with a 119 wRC+. He walks a decent amount (9.1 BB%) while limiting strikeouts (13.5 K%) and has the slightest bit of pop in his left-handed bat. While he doesn’t have the best average exit velo, he’s in the 94th and 96th percentile when it comes to launch angle sweet spot and squaring the ball up. As far as his left field prowess, he has 1,245 2/3 innings in his career out there with a 0 DRS and -2 OAA. Perfectly pedestrian. His bat is fine but not that of a prototypical left fielder. He’s under control through 2027, so the acquisition cost might be a bit prohibitive unless you’re actually using him in a utility role.”
The bat profiles better as an infielder, but a wRC+ 19% better than league-average isn’t anything to sneeze at, either. With Tommy Edman‘s health status for Opening Day/early in the season in question — evidenced by the Andy Ibanez signing — adding Donovan to take some reps at second base could also make sense. It’d also be a bit of an indictment of Hyeseong Kim, as his Statcast profile in his rookie season doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence. He’s also different that every other Dodger hitter on the roster. He controls the strike zone well, has a high contact rate and isn’t a true power hitter. Sometimes, it’s best to have a bit of variety with your bats.
Adding a guy like Donovan wouldn’t directly address the Dodgers’ defensive issues in right field, but it would give them another layer of insurance against injuries, as the roster is aging. If Donovan could give the occasional day off to guys like Mookie Betts, Edman and Max Muncy, he could make a lot more sense than not.
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Despite the great Cardinal sell-off (Nolan Arenado got traded to the Diamondbacks on Tuesday), they aren’t just going to give him away. He’s under team control through the 2027 season, and his arbitration number for 2026 is a very affordable $5.8 million.
While the Dodgers don’t have any untouchables in their farm system, guys like Josue De Paula, Zyhir Hope and Eduardo Quintero would probably be off-limits. Instead, let’s look at who might be available and who might interest St. Louis in such a trade:
I’m hesitant to include Sirota, but the Dodgers can’t keep all their outfield prospects in-house, right? You’d have to think if Ryan is the headliner, the rest of the return would be more bearable for the Dodgers. They could even dangle Gavin Stone as the headliner, as the Dodgers have a ton of starting pitching (but still not enough!).
Infielder Alex Freeland doesn’t make as much as as he might appear, as the Cardinals have Masyn Winn entrenched at shortstop and their top prospect JJ Wetherholt is all but MLB-ready at this point. It’s partly the reason the Cards are interested in moving Donovan.
It seems, on paper, there could be a match to be made. And it’d be nice to see the Dodgers get in on the Cards’ sell-off. It’d also keep him from landing in San Francisco, as the Giants are increasingly interested in him (and Nico Hoerner) as of this morning.
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The most straightforward solution to the Dodgers’ outfield deficiency is to just sign the likes of Cody Bellinger or Tucker, but if they ended up with Donovan as the “big” offseason bat addition, that’d be perfectly fine.
