Mariners' Brendan Donovan chase just added new target as Cardinals rumors expand

As the Seattle Mariners still look to add another big bat to the lineup, Brendan Donovan quite rightly remains in the mix as one of the better players they could trade for. He's a quality second baseman who earned his first All-Star selection last season and won a Gold Glove as a rookie in 2022.

However, there's a couple of challenges to any designs the Mariners might have on Donovan, with the first being that they face plenty of competition for his services. The second challenge is that the prize to acquire him will be steep, with MLB.com's John Denton indicating it will likely take two of an organization’s top 10 prospects.

We know the Mariners do have the assets to meet the Cardinals' demands, but would Jerry Dipoto and company be prepared to go down this road for a player they will only have under club control for two seasons? Certainly it's a compelling debate, but almost lost within all this is another target the M's are apparently also pursuing in St. Louis.

An intriguing target in JoJo Romero

It was only one sentence in an article by Jeff Jones of the Bellevue News -Democrat, but still one more than worthy of sharing: "The Seattle Mariners and Cardinals have had ongoing discussions over Donovan and JoJo Romero, and that might still come to fruition."

One of the main things which was clear last season, was the lack of quality reliever depth on the Mariners roster once you got past the likes of Andrés Muñoz, Matt Brash, Gabe Speier and Eduard Bazardo. This deficiency came into even more focus during the playoffs and the unit would undoubtedly be helped by the addition of someone like Romero.

The 29-year-old is coming off a season where he set career-bests with a 1.7 bWAR, 2.07 ERA, 200 ERA+ and 61.0 innings pitched, while his 3.28 FIP was the second-lowest of his six years in the majors. He isn't much of a swing-and-miss type of pitcher, but as per Baseball Savant, he creates lots of soft contact.

Helping the Mariners depth chart

Romero is more of a middle-reliever type in the same mold as Caleb Ferguson and — with all due respect to Ferguson — we're confident he would represent an upgrade in this regard. Along similar lines, the addition of the 2016 fourth round draft pick would also offer an excuse to bump Casey Legumina or Jackson Kowar from the current M's depth chart.

We do know the Mariners want to still strengthen their bullpen, although there is the question of how much they are focused on this area of the roster? It is worth adding that Romero recently avoided arbitration by agreeing a one-year deal worth $4.26 million in 2026 and next year he will become a free agent.

Having already traded the likes of Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras, the Cardinals have shown they are now in full rebuild mode and it's up to the Mariners to take full advantage of this. After getting ever so close to their first World Series appearance in franchise history last year, now's the time for them to prove they are seriously committed to finishing the job.

Adding someone such as Romero would help with the public perception of the Mariners, although we appreciate acquiring him on his own would not be exciting as such. However, add him as a deal-sweetener in a trade for Donovan and the M's fanbase will gladly take that.