Mariners reportedly willing to cross one specific bridge in Brendan Donovan trade

Seattle Mariners fans aren't the only ones who are surprised that Brendan Donovan hasn't been moved yet. That's reportedly the sentiment within the industry as well, and it isn't just because there's a game of chicken happening between the Mariners and St. Louis Cardinals.

According to Will Sammon and Katie Woo of The Athletic, there is surprise around the industry that the Cardinals found takers for Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras before they found one for Donovan. He's their most valuable trade chip, after all, though that also means there's pressure on Chaim Bloom to get it right when he does trade the All-Star utility man.

Per Sammon and Woo, Bloom isn't going to trade Donovan just to make a trade. As they say: "The return package has to make sense, and for a club looking to rebuild through drafting and developing, that means capitalizing on prospects."

Mariners reportedly willing to cross one specific bridge in Brendan Donovan trade

The good news amid the long wait is that the Mariners and Cardinals still line up well as trading partners. The Mariners aren't looking to trade from their MLB roster to get Donovan, according to Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times, but they are willing to move prospects for him, specifically including switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje.

This should be just fine with the Cardinals, who are reportedly interested in Cijntje as a return piece in a Donovan trade. It also makes sense that the Mariners would be willing to move the 2024 first-rounder, as he's in that sweet spot of being obviously talented yet less than certain to find stardom in the majors.

As a guy who can hit 98 mph with his left and right arm, Cijntje is ostensibly two high-ceiling pitchers in one. Yet the sheer idea of Cijntje is undercut by the reality of his situation. There is no precedent for a successful switch-pitcher in the majors, and he has a platoon split that is both unusual and alarming.

When he threw lefty in the minors this year, both righty batters and lefty batters got to him for an OPS over 1.000. When he threw right-on-left, he got knocked for an .845 OPS.

Per Baseball America, some scouts see Cijntje not as a future ace, but as a future reliever. For a team with World Series aspirations like the Mariners, there's logic in exchanging his long-term volatility for Donovan's obvious short-term usefulness.

If the Mariners don't get Donovan, it might only be because another team made the Cardinals a better offer, or at least one more to their liking. To this end, the Boston Red Sox have emerged as a real threat. They've already made two trades with the Cardinals, and Bloom built much of Boston's farm system before he landed in St. Louis and was given the keys to the franchise's rebuild.

Either way, the wait continues. And with how quiet the market is now, it may continue for a while still.