Mariners must not give in to Cardinals' absurd valuation of Brendan Donovan

Every offseason has a good player who suddenly gets talked about like he’s a franchise cornerstone because one team (and its loudest corners of the internet) decided he’s priceless.

This winter, it’s Brendan Donovan. Let’s be clear, Donovan is a useful baseball player. He has real skills — smart swing decisions, bat-to-ball ability, defensive versatility, “manager loves a scrappy guy” makeup stuff. The kind of player contenders like having because he lets you solve three problems with one roster spot.

Mariners can’t fall for the Cardinals’ delusional Brendan Donovan price

But the Cardinals reportedly seeing him as a star is where the conversation starts getting silly. Even the reporting around the trade talks basically screams “valuation gap,” with St. Louis treating Donovan like a headliner while other clubs view him more like a high-end supporting piece. 

Donovan’s career-best FanGraphs WAR season was 3.2 fWAR (2024). That’s good! That’s valuable! That’s also not the same neighborhood as actual star-level infielders like an underrated Nico Hoerner (4.8) or even Ketel Marte (4.6 in only 126 games), the exact comparison The Athletic used to frame the market disconnect. 

So when Cardinals fans are pounding the table on social media like Donovan is some untouchable superstar asset, we get it emotionally — he’s “your guy.” But from a cold-blooded roster-building standpoint? That drumbeat is inflating the price tag past the point of reason.

And yes, if the conversation is Jurrangelo Cijntje + another low to mid-tier piece, that's fine. That’s the kind of prospect capital you consider spending for a versatile, above-average regular — and it lines up with reporting that Seattle is willing to move prospects (including Cijntje) but doesn’t want to ship out big-league starters. 

But the moment St. Louis starts talking like they need a future middle-of-the-order monster to “justify” moving Brendan Donovan, that’s when the Mariners have to push their chair back from the table.

This is where the line needs to be drawn in permanent marker: Lazaro Montes cannot be in a Brendan Donovan package. Not as the centerpiece. Not as the sweetener. Not even in a “well, we had to do it” panic.

MLB Pipeline has Montes as one of Seattle’s very top prospects — a 21-year-old outfielder already in Double-A with a 2026 ETA. That’s exactly the kind of asset you protect like it’s a family heirloom, because if Montes hits the way Seattle believes he can, you’re talking about the rarest thing in this organization: impact bat upside that can change the shape of the lineup for years.

You don’t trade that for a 29-year-old super-utility guy whose peak season is basically ‘good J.P. Crawford’ with a different jersey. That’s how you lose trades by 40 miles and spend the next half-decade pretending it was “process-driven.”

If the Cardinals want to treat Donovan like a star, cool — they’re allowed to. But the Mariners’ response has to be simple: We like the player. We’re not buying the mythology. Call us when the price matches reality.