Potential Pirates Trade Targets: Checking in on Cardinals’ Brendan Donovan
The Pittsburgh Pirates are reportedly interested in trading with a division rival as they look to upgrade their offense for the 2026 season.
The Pirates have checked in on the St. Louis Cardinals’ Brendan Donovan and others, according to Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich of The Athletic.
Donovan, who has been very consistent in his four-year career, would provide an instant boost to the Pirates’ lowly offense.
A seventh-round pick of the Cardinals in 2018, Donovan made his MLB debut in 2022. He finished third in the National League Rookie of the Year race after slashing .281/.394/.379 in 126 games and won a Gold Glove as a utility player.
Donovan had solid showings each of the next two years from 2023-24 and was named a National League All-Star this past season. In 118 games with the Cardinals in 2025, Donovan slashed .287/.353/.422 with 32 doubles, 10 home runs and 50 RBI.
Since the start of the 2022 season, only three players to record at least 2,000 plate appearances in the National League have a higher batting average than Donovan (.282) — Freddie Freeman (.310), Trea Turner (.290) and Nico Hoerner (.284). The 28-year-old also ranks sixth with a .361 on-base percentage during that span.
For comparison, the Pirates rank last in the National League in batting average (.232) and on-base percentage (.303) since the start of the 2022 season.
While Donovan hasn’t shown a ton of power during his big-league career, he could see an uptick in home runs with a left-handed swing that would play well with the short porch in right field at PNC Park.
Donovan also offers the Pirates plenty of defensive flexibility and could fill a number of holes on the roster. He played majority second base this past season, which is the position he’s played most in his career. But Donovan has also totaled 163 games in left field, 46 at third base, 30 in right field, 30 at first base and 14 at short.
Donovan is projected to earn a reasonable $4 million in 2026. He will again be arbitration-eligible next offseason and will become a free agent after 2027.
Considering his offensive production, defensive versatility and contract status, Donovan is an ideal fit for the Pirates. But for all those reasons, there are several other teams across the league with interest.
The Cardinals are destined for a retooling under new President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom. The Pirates are rich in young starting pitchers and could float the likes of Braxton Ashcraft, Mike Burrows or Hunter Barco to try and entice St. Louis. But it would still take more than just one of those players to get a deal done.
Although teams tend to prefer to trade with a team not in the same division if able, the Cardinals and Pirates have made several trades under Ben Cherington’s tenure. The most notable came in 2022 in the four-player swap that sent Jose Quintana to St. Louis and Johan Oviedo to Pittsburgh.
The two sides line up well in a trade this offseason.
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