4 top prospects Cardinals are eyeing in a Donovan deal ..2 Mariners & 2 Giants

[Ozziesfan41]

I would like Montes and cijntje Montes is the kind of outfield prospect they need to go with Baez. He’s got big time power and gets on base. Strikes out a lot though but he gets on base

Montes' loudest tool is still his top-of-the-scale raw power from the left side of the plate, and he's continuing to learn how to get to that pop consistently in games. He has outstanding bat speed with plenty of loft in his swing to drive the ball in the air, and he can regularly register elite-level exit velocities. There is some swing-and-miss to his game and there will always be strikeouts, but he also draws walks (14.4 percent walk rate in 2024) as he's learning to find better pitches to hit. He models his game after and is often compared to fellow Cuban Yordan Alvarez.

He is slow and below average defensively so only corner OF and very likely could end up being a DH due to defensive woes. He is a beast though that can launch the ball with the best of them.

Him and Baez at the corners would make for a pretty good outfield

More unproven talent that will take the Cards to the promised land. Hallelujah! Pass the plate. LOL

Well Donovan hasn’t and won’t take the cardinals to the promised land so pretty dumb to keep him. It’s hilarious some people think Donovan is the type of player you build a team around

Name a starting Cardinal infield that's better without him in it. What we have here is Schrodinger's Donovan. He's too good to not get multiple top tier prospects but yet he's not good enough to keep as a Cardinal. LOL

They’re not trading him because they think the infield will be better without him

[Melville]

I would like Montes and cijntje Montes is the kind of outfield prospect they need to go with Baez. He’s got big time power and gets on base. Strikes out a lot though but he gets on base

Montes' loudest tool is still his top-of-the-scale raw power from the left side of the plate, and he's continuing to learn how to get to that pop consistently in games. He has outstanding bat speed with plenty of loft in his swing to drive the ball in the air, and he can regularly register elite-level exit velocities. There is some swing-and-miss to his game and there will always be strikeouts, but he also draws walks (14.4 percent walk rate in 2024) as he's learning to find better pitches to hit. He models his game after and is often compared to fellow Cuban Yordan Alvarez.

He is slow and below average defensively so only corner OF and very likely could end up being a DH due to defensive woes. He is a beast though that can launch the ball with the best of them.

Him and Baez at the corners would make for a pretty good outfield

More unproven talent that will take the Cards to the promised land. Hallelujah! Pass the plate. LOL

Well Donovan hasn’t and won’t take the cardinals to the promised land so pretty dumb to keep him. It’s hilarious some people think Donovan is the type of player you build a team around

Name a starting Cardinal infield that's better without him in it. What we have here is Schrodinger's Donovan. He's too good to not get multiple top tier prospects but yet he's not good enough to keep as a Cardinal. LOL

They’re not trading him because they think the infield will be better without him

Actually, they are.
They are clearing 2b for Wetherholt because they do believe Wetherholt makes the infield better.
Zero dispute.
If they choose to keep Donovan, it would be because they would view him as making the OUTFIELD better.

[Ozziesfan41]

I would like Montes and cijntje Montes is the kind of outfield prospect they need to go with Baez. He’s got big time power and gets on base. Strikes out a lot though but he gets on base

Montes' loudest tool is still his top-of-the-scale raw power from the left side of the plate, and he's continuing to learn how to get to that pop consistently in games. He has outstanding bat speed with plenty of loft in his swing to drive the ball in the air, and he can regularly register elite-level exit velocities. There is some swing-and-miss to his game and there will always be strikeouts, but he also draws walks (14.4 percent walk rate in 2024) as he's learning to find better pitches to hit. He models his game after and is often compared to fellow Cuban Yordan Alvarez.

He is slow and below average defensively so only corner OF and very likely could end up being a DH due to defensive woes. He is a beast though that can launch the ball with the best of them.

Him and Baez at the corners would make for a pretty good outfield

More unproven talent that will take the Cards to the promised land. Hallelujah! Pass the plate. LOL

Well Donovan hasn’t and won’t take the cardinals to the promised land so pretty dumb to keep him. It’s hilarious some people think Donovan is the type of player you build a team around

Name a starting Cardinal infield that's better without him in it. What we have here is Schrodinger's Donovan. He's too good to not get multiple top tier prospects but yet he's not good enough to keep as a Cardinal. LOL

They’re not trading him because they think the infield will be better without him

Actually, they are.
They are clearing 2b for Wetherholt because they do believe Wetherholt makes the infield better.
Zero dispute.
If they choose to keep Donovan, it would be because they would view him as making the OUTFIELD better.

Actually they aren’t. If they wanted the infield to be significantly better they would trade the unikkorn and have Donovan and JJ at second and third but they don’t plan on extending Donovan so it’s better to trade him while his value is at its highest instead of being dumb and keeping him like they did with Fedde and helsley. As it stands the infield will be worse trading Donovan and having Gorman sucking at third so no they aren’t expecting it to be better unless they are dumb

[Goldfan]

I would like Montes and cijntje Montes is the kind of outfield prospect they need to go with Baez. He’s got big time power and gets on base. Strikes out a lot though but he gets on base

Montes' loudest tool is still his top-of-the-scale raw power from the left side of the plate, and he's continuing to learn how to get to that pop consistently in games. He has outstanding bat speed with plenty of loft in his swing to drive the ball in the air, and he can regularly register elite-level exit velocities. There is some swing-and-miss to his game and there will always be strikeouts, but he also draws walks (14.4 percent walk rate in 2024) as he's learning to find better pitches to hit. He models his game after and is often compared to fellow Cuban Yordan Alvarez.

He is slow and below average defensively so only corner OF and very likely could end up being a DH due to defensive woes. He is a beast though that can launch the ball with the best of them.

Him and Baez at the corners would make for a pretty good outfield

More unproven talent that will take the Cards to the promised land. Hallelujah! Pass the plate. LOL

Well Donovan hasn’t and won’t take the cardinals to the promised land so pretty dumb to keep him. It’s hilarious some people think Donovan is the type of player you build a team around

Name a starting Cardinal infield that's better without him in it. What we have here is Schrodinger's Donovan. He's too good to not get multiple top tier prospects but yet he's not good enough to keep as a Cardinal. LOL

They’re not trading him because they think the infield will be better without him

Actually, they are.
They are clearing 2b for Wetherholt because they do believe Wetherholt makes the infield better.
Zero dispute.
If they choose to keep Donovan, it would be because they would view him as making the OUTFIELD better.

Actually they aren’t. If they wanted the infield to be significantly better they would trade the unikkorn and have Donovan and JJ at second and third but they don’t plan on extending Donovan so it’s better to trade him while his value is at its highest instead of being dumb and keeping him like they did with Fedde and helsley. As it stands the infield will be worse trading Donovan and having Gorman sucking at third

Gentlemen THEY don’t want this team better now for HOPE that Yutes become All-stars in the future. BDW can go cheap for a few more years and all will be forgiven when BLOOM launches his Golden Core…..sounds fanciful…and we’ve never really seen it here but who knows

[Ozziesfan41]

I would like Montes and cijntje Montes is the kind of outfield prospect they need to go with Baez. He’s got big time power and gets on base. Strikes out a lot though but he gets on base

Montes' loudest tool is still his top-of-the-scale raw power from the left side of the plate, and he's continuing to learn how to get to that pop consistently in games. He has outstanding bat speed with plenty of loft in his swing to drive the ball in the air, and he can regularly register elite-level exit velocities. There is some swing-and-miss to his game and there will always be strikeouts, but he also draws walks (14.4 percent walk rate in 2024) as he's learning to find better pitches to hit. He models his game after and is often compared to fellow Cuban Yordan Alvarez.

He is slow and below average defensively so only corner OF and very likely could end up being a DH due to defensive woes. He is a beast though that can launch the ball with the best of them.

Him and Baez at the corners would make for a pretty good outfield

More unproven talent that will take the Cards to the promised land. Hallelujah! Pass the plate. LOL

Well Donovan hasn’t and won’t take the cardinals to the promised land so pretty dumb to keep him. It’s hilarious some people think Donovan is the type of player you build a team around

Name a starting Cardinal infield that's better without him in it. What we have here is Schrodinger's Donovan. He's too good to not get multiple top tier prospects but yet he's not good enough to keep as a Cardinal. LOL

They’re not trading him because they think the infield will be better without him

Actually, they are.
They are clearing 2b for Wetherholt because they do believe Wetherholt makes the infield better.
Zero dispute.
If they choose to keep Donovan, it would be because they would view him as making the OUTFIELD better.

Actually they aren’t. If they wanted the infield to be significantly better they would trade the unikkorn and have Donovan and JJ at second and third but they don’t plan on extending Donovan so it’s better to trade him while his value is at its highest instead of being dumb and keeping him like they did with Fedde and helsley. As it stands the infield will be worse trading Donovan and having Gorman sucking at third

Gentlemen THEY don’t want this team better now for HOPE that Yutes become All-stars in the future. BDW can go cheap for a few more years and all will be forgiven when BLOOM launches his Golden Core…..sounds fanciful…and we’ve never really seen it here but who knows

Well mos system is a proven failure and the team would have never got any better using his system and would have continued to get better at least under bloom and him actually having a plan and implementing the plan they could get better because the vets certainly weren’t helping the cardinals win anything

[Melville]

I would like Montes and cijntje Montes is the kind of outfield prospect they need to go with Baez. He’s got big time power and gets on base. Strikes out a lot though but he gets on base

Montes' loudest tool is still his top-of-the-scale raw power from the left side of the plate, and he's continuing to learn how to get to that pop consistently in games. He has outstanding bat speed with plenty of loft in his swing to drive the ball in the air, and he can regularly register elite-level exit velocities. There is some swing-and-miss to his game and there will always be strikeouts, but he also draws walks (14.4 percent walk rate in 2024) as he's learning to find better pitches to hit. He models his game after and is often compared to fellow Cuban Yordan Alvarez.

He is slow and below average defensively so only corner OF and very likely could end up being a DH due to defensive woes. He is a beast though that can launch the ball with the best of them.

Him and Baez at the corners would make for a pretty good outfield

More unproven talent that will take the Cards to the promised land. Hallelujah! Pass the plate. LOL

Well Donovan hasn’t and won’t take the cardinals to the promised land so pretty dumb to keep him. It’s hilarious some people think Donovan is the type of player you build a team around

Name a starting Cardinal infield that's better without him in it. What we have here is Schrodinger's Donovan. He's too good to not get multiple top tier prospects but yet he's not good enough to keep as a Cardinal. LOL

They’re not trading him because they think the infield will be better without him

Actually, they are.
They are clearing 2b for Wetherholt because they do believe Wetherholt makes the infield better.
Zero dispute.
If they choose to keep Donovan, it would be because they would view him as making the OUTFIELD better.

Actually they aren’t. If they wanted the infield to be significantly better they would trade the unikkorn and have Donovan and JJ at second and third but they don’t plan on extending Donovan so it’s better to trade him while his value is at its highest instead of being dumb and keeping him like they did with Fedde and helsley. As it stands the infield will be worse trading Donovan and having Gorman sucking at third so no they aren’t expecting it to be better unless they are dumb

We disagree.
They are not ready to give up on Gorman because he is the only LH HR hitting, RBI producing, bat on the roster who can be leveraged at 3b and 2B.
And it is Donovan, not Gorman, blocking Wetherholt at 2b.
Rightly or wrongly, Bloom believes Wetherholt has a far higher ceiling than Donovan (whose ceiling is already established).
If Donovan is traded, it will be because Bloom believes Wetherholt at 2b makes the infield better, period.
Now, if he wanted to improve the outfield, he would simply move Donovan to LF (which is, of course, the CORRECT BASEBALL DECISION).
But Bloom seems to prefer a different direction currently.
This is the reality of the situation.

[Melville]

I would like Montes and cijntje Montes is the kind of outfield prospect they need to go with Baez. He’s got big time power and gets on base. Strikes out a lot though but he gets on base

Montes' loudest tool is still his top-of-the-scale raw power from the left side of the plate, and he's continuing to learn how to get to that pop consistently in games. He has outstanding bat speed with plenty of loft in his swing to drive the ball in the air, and he can regularly register elite-level exit velocities. There is some swing-and-miss to his game and there will always be strikeouts, but he also draws walks (14.4 percent walk rate in 2024) as he's learning to find better pitches to hit. He models his game after and is often compared to fellow Cuban Yordan Alvarez.

He is slow and below average defensively so only corner OF and very likely could end up being a DH due to defensive woes. He is a beast though that can launch the ball with the best of them.

Him and Baez at the corners would make for a pretty good outfield

More unproven talent that will take the Cards to the promised land. Hallelujah! Pass the plate. LOL

Well Donovan hasn’t and won’t take the cardinals to the promised land so pretty dumb to keep him. It’s hilarious some people think Donovan is the type of player you build a team around

Name a starting Cardinal infield that's better without him in it. What we have here is Schrodinger's Donovan. He's too good to not get multiple top tier prospects but yet he's not good enough to keep as a Cardinal. LOL

They’re not trading him because they think the infield will be better without him

Actually, they are.
They are clearing 2b for Wetherholt because they do believe Wetherholt makes the infield better.
Zero dispute.
If they choose to keep Donovan, it would be because they would view him as making the OUTFIELD better.

Actually they aren’t. If they wanted the infield to be significantly better they would trade the unikkorn and have Donovan and JJ at second and third but they don’t plan on extending Donovan so it’s better to trade him while his value is at its highest instead of being dumb and keeping him like they did with Fedde and helsley. As it stands the infield will be worse trading Donovan and having Gorman sucking at third

Gentlemen THEY don’t want this team better now for HOPE that Yutes become All-stars in the future. BDW can go cheap for a few more years and all will be forgiven when BLOOM launches his Golden Core…..sounds fanciful…and we’ve never really seen it here but who knows

Bloom wants the team to be more competitive in 2026 and build a trye contender in years following.
He is trying to accomplish both - exactly as I have said for many months.

[Ozziesfan41]

I would like Montes and cijntje Montes is the kind of outfield prospect they need to go with Baez. He’s got big time power and gets on base. Strikes out a lot though but he gets on base

Montes' loudest tool is still his top-of-the-scale raw power from the left side of the plate, and he's continuing to learn how to get to that pop consistently in games. He has outstanding bat speed with plenty of loft in his swing to drive the ball in the air, and he can regularly register elite-level exit velocities. There is some swing-and-miss to his game and there will always be strikeouts, but he also draws walks (14.4 percent walk rate in 2024) as he's learning to find better pitches to hit. He models his game after and is often compared to fellow Cuban Yordan Alvarez.

He is slow and below average defensively so only corner OF and very likely could end up being a DH due to defensive woes. He is a beast though that can launch the ball with the best of them.

Him and Baez at the corners would make for a pretty good outfield

More unproven talent that will take the Cards to the promised land. Hallelujah! Pass the plate. LOL

Well Donovan hasn’t and won’t take the cardinals to the promised land so pretty dumb to keep him. It’s hilarious some people think Donovan is the type of player you build a team around

Name a starting Cardinal infield that's better without him in it. What we have here is Schrodinger's Donovan. He's too good to not get multiple top tier prospects but yet he's not good enough to keep as a Cardinal. LOL

They’re not trading him because they think the infield will be better without him

Actually, they are.
They are clearing 2b for Wetherholt because they do believe Wetherholt makes the infield better.
Zero dispute.
If they choose to keep Donovan, it would be because they would view him as making the OUTFIELD better.

Actually they aren’t. If they wanted the infield to be significantly better they would trade the unikkorn and have Donovan and JJ at second and third but they don’t plan on extending Donovan so it’s better to trade him while his value is at its highest instead of being dumb and keeping him like they did with Fedde and helsley. As it stands the infield will be worse trading Donovan and having Gorman sucking at third so no they aren’t expecting it to be better unless they are dumb

We disagree.
They are not ready to give up on Gorman because he is the only LH HR hitting, RBI producing, bat on the roster who can be leveraged at 3b and 2B.
And it is Donovan, not Gorman, blocking Wetherholt at 2b.
Rightly or wrongly, Bloom believes Wetherholt has a far higher ceiling than Donovan (whose ceiling is already established).
If Donovan is traded, it will be because Bloom believes Wetherholt at 2b makes the infield better, period.
Now, if he wanted to improve the outfield, he would simply move Donovan to LF (which is, of course, the CORRECT BASEBALL DECISION).
But Bloom seems to prefer a different direction currently.
This is the reality of the situation.

Yes I disagree. The infield would be better offensively and defensively with Donovan and JJ at second and third. Gorman sucks and is a step down from even arenado. The only reason they are trading Donovan is because he is their most valuable trade asset and they are rebuilding

[renostl]

I would like Montes and cijntje Montes is the kind of outfield prospect they need to go with Baez. He’s got big time power and gets on base. Strikes out a lot though but he gets on base

Montes' loudest tool is still his top-of-the-scale raw power from the left side of the plate, and he's continuing to learn how to get to that pop consistently in games. He has outstanding bat speed with plenty of loft in his swing to drive the ball in the air, and he can regularly register elite-level exit velocities. There is some swing-and-miss to his game and there will always be strikeouts, but he also draws walks (14.4 percent walk rate in 2024) as he's learning to find better pitches to hit. He models his game after and is often compared to fellow Cuban Yordan Alvarez.

He is slow and below average defensively so only corner OF and very likely could end up being a DH due to defensive woes. He is a beast though that can launch the ball with the best of them.

Him and Baez at the corners would make for a pretty good outfield

More unproven talent that will take the Cards to the promised land. Hallelujah! Pass the plate. LOL

Well Donovan hasn’t and won’t take the cardinals to the promised land so pretty dumb to keep him. It’s hilarious some people think Donovan is the type of player you build a team around

Name a starting Cardinal infield that's better without him in it. What we have here is Schrodinger's Donovan. He's too good to not get multiple top tier prospects but yet he's not good enough to keep as a Cardinal. LOL

They’re not trading him because they think the infield will be better without him

Actually, they are.
They are clearing 2b for Wetherholt because they do believe Wetherholt makes the infield better.
Zero dispute.
If they choose to keep Donovan, it would be because they would view him as making the OUTFIELD better.

Actually they aren’t. If they wanted the infield to be significantly better they would trade the unikkorn and have Donovan and JJ at second and third but they don’t plan on extending Donovan so it’s better to trade him while his value is at its highest instead of being dumb and keeping him like they did with Fedde and helsley. As it stands the infield will be worse trading Donovan and having Gorman sucking at third so no they aren’t expecting it to be better unless they are dumb

We disagree.
They are not ready to give up on Gorman because he is the only LH HR hitting, RBI producing, bat on the roster who can be leveraged at 3b and 2B.
And it is Donovan, not Gorman, blocking Wetherholt at 2b.
Rightly or wrongly, Bloom believes Wetherholt has a far higher ceiling than Donovan (whose ceiling is already established).
If Donovan is traded, it will be because Bloom believes Wetherholt at 2b makes the infield better, period.
Now, if he wanted to improve the outfield, he would simply move Donovan to LF (which is, of course, the CORRECT BASEBALL DECISION).
But Bloom seems to prefer a different direction currently.
This is the reality of the situation.

Yes I disagree. The infield would be better offensively and defensively with Donovan and JJ at second and third. Gorman sucks and is a step down from even arenado. The only reason they are trading Donovan is because he is their most valuable trade asset and they are rebuilding

I actually think that you could extend the timeline beyond 2026 with
this strategy to 2030 and BD would be 33. Of course it would be BD's own
free will that determines how possible that is and maybe it is not possible.

I understand BD is easy to trade. There are also others who
could be traded that could add to the team with less subtraction.
It's very probable he goes, I'll hope for a star in return.

Gormans cost though will go up if we deal a player that has production
and he never provides it and becomes a wasted opportunity.
It why his leash may be getting short. His investment to production
is going up.

[BleedingBleu]

Emerson, anyone?

https://redbirdrants.com/mlb-insider-be ... an-donovan

I would definitely be satisfied with a package that included Colt Emerson.

Morosi believes the Mariners will need to surrender Colt Emerson, Cole Young and/or Ben Williamson for Donovan.

Sounds like a potentially fun, athletic infield of JJ at 2B, Winn at SS, and Emerson at 3rd

Emerson is the top prospect in Seattle's loaded farm system, according to MLB Pipeline. He hit .285 with an .841 OPS and 16 home runs across High-A, Double-A and Triple-A in 2025. Although he usually plays shortstop, some believe that he will be better suited at third base in the long term. If the Cardinals deal Nolan Arenado this winter as expected, Emerson would be a dream piece for the Cardinals in 2026 and especially beyond, when they attempt to return to contention.

If it was Emerson & Young, then maybe we see who could patrol CF if Vince Coleman Victor Scott can’t figure out the bat

Young was the Mariners' top prospect in 2024 before debuting in the majors last season. He hit an underwhelming .211 with a .607 OPS, and Seattle could opt to flip the 22-year-old for more of a sure bet in Donovan.

Now, if only we could get Walker to hit and play RF, Burleson in LF, and Gorman/Herrera 1B. In this unlikely trade scenario and fever dream, Williamson seamlessly replaces Donovan, because he basically profiles as a RH version of him. They’re both Confederates, too!

[Rollin' on the River]

Mariners

#3 Prospect ... OF Lazaro Montes AA age 21 6-5 210 ETA 2026 ranked 29th in Top 100
#7 prospect ... RHP/LHP Jurrangelo Cijntje 5-11 ,200 age 22 ETA 2027 ranked 90th in Top 100


Giants

#3 prospect 2B Gavin Kilen 2025 1st rounder (13th pick from Tenn. ) age 21 bats L throws R ETA 2028
#7 prospect LHP Carson Whisenhunt age 25 6-3 214

Link "https://redbirdrants.com/cardinals-rumo ... ovan-trade

Montes plus raw power ..can really launch it .. models his game and compared to Cuban Yordan Alvarez slow runner though .. Cijntge interesting
Kilen shined at Tenn. ..no surprise he went 13th in draft
Whisenhunt had PED in college .. another lefty P

No thanks to overaged lefty prospects.

[Melville]

I would like Montes and cijntje Montes is the kind of outfield prospect they need to go with Baez. He’s got big time power and gets on base. Strikes out a lot though but he gets on base

Montes' loudest tool is still his top-of-the-scale raw power from the left side of the plate, and he's continuing to learn how to get to that pop consistently in games. He has outstanding bat speed with plenty of loft in his swing to drive the ball in the air, and he can regularly register elite-level exit velocities. There is some swing-and-miss to his game and there will always be strikeouts, but he also draws walks (14.4 percent walk rate in 2024) as he's learning to find better pitches to hit. He models his game after and is often compared to fellow Cuban Yordan Alvarez.

He is slow and below average defensively so only corner OF and very likely could end up being a DH due to defensive woes. He is a beast though that can launch the ball with the best of them.

Him and Baez at the corners would make for a pretty good outfield

More unproven talent that will take the Cards to the promised land. Hallelujah! Pass the plate. LOL

Well Donovan hasn’t and won’t take the cardinals to the promised land so pretty dumb to keep him. It’s hilarious some people think Donovan is the type of player you build a team around

Name a starting Cardinal infield that's better without him in it. What we have here is Schrodinger's Donovan. He's too good to not get multiple top tier prospects but yet he's not good enough to keep as a Cardinal. LOL

They’re not trading him because they think the infield will be better without him

Actually, they are.
They are clearing 2b for Wetherholt because they do believe Wetherholt makes the infield better.
Zero dispute.
If they choose to keep Donovan, it would be because they would view him as making the OUTFIELD better.

Actually they aren’t. If they wanted the infield to be significantly better they would trade the unikkorn and have Donovan and JJ at second and third but they don’t plan on extending Donovan so it’s better to trade him while his value is at its highest instead of being dumb and keeping him like they did with Fedde and helsley. As it stands the infield will be worse trading Donovan and having Gorman sucking at third so no they aren’t expecting it to be better unless they are dumb

We disagree.
They are not ready to give up on Gorman because he is the only LH HR hitting, RBI producing, bat on the roster who can be leveraged at 3b and 2B.
And it is Donovan, not Gorman, blocking Wetherholt at 2b.
Rightly or wrongly, Bloom believes Wetherholt has a far higher ceiling than Donovan (whose ceiling is already established).
If Donovan is traded, it will be because Bloom believes Wetherholt at 2b makes the infield better, period.
Now, if he wanted to improve the outfield, he would simply move Donovan to LF (which is, of course, the CORRECT BASEBALL DECISION).
But Bloom seems to prefer a different direction currently.
This is the reality of the situation.

Yes I disagree. The infield would be better offensively and defensively with Donovan and JJ at second and third. Gorman sucks and is a step down from even arenado. The only reason they are trading Donovan is because he is their most valuable trade asset and they are rebuilding

If Wetherholt was not poised to take over 2nd base, Bloom would not be shopping Donovan.
If there was no Wetherholt, Donovan would be penciled in to play 2b next season - zero question.
That is the bottom line.
Personally, I think the better choice would be to move Donovan to LF - clearly that is the CORRECT BASEBALL DECISION.
But Bloom has a different vision.
That said, if Mootbaar was healthy at the moment had a successful 2025 season, Bloom would be doing exactly as I correctly advised above.
Donovan would be retained and Mootbaar would be moved.

[Ozziesfan41]

I would like Montes and cijntje Montes is the kind of outfield prospect they need to go with Baez. He’s got big time power and gets on base. Strikes out a lot though but he gets on base

Montes' loudest tool is still his top-of-the-scale raw power from the left side of the plate, and he's continuing to learn how to get to that pop consistently in games. He has outstanding bat speed with plenty of loft in his swing to drive the ball in the air, and he can regularly register elite-level exit velocities. There is some swing-and-miss to his game and there will always be strikeouts, but he also draws walks (14.4 percent walk rate in 2024) as he's learning to find better pitches to hit. He models his game after and is often compared to fellow Cuban Yordan Alvarez.

He is slow and below average defensively so only corner OF and very likely could end up being a DH due to defensive woes. He is a beast though that can launch the ball with the best of them.

Him and Baez at the corners would make for a pretty good outfield

More unproven talent that will take the Cards to the promised land. Hallelujah! Pass the plate. LOL

Well Donovan hasn’t and won’t take the cardinals to the promised land so pretty dumb to keep him. It’s hilarious some people think Donovan is the type of player you build a team around

Name a starting Cardinal infield that's better without him in it. What we have here is Schrodinger's Donovan. He's too good to not get multiple top tier prospects but yet he's not good enough to keep as a Cardinal. LOL

They’re not trading him because they think the infield will be better without him

Actually, they are.
They are clearing 2b for Wetherholt because they do believe Wetherholt makes the infield better.
Zero dispute.
If they choose to keep Donovan, it would be because they would view him as making the OUTFIELD better.

Actually they aren’t. If they wanted the infield to be significantly better they would trade the unikkorn and have Donovan and JJ at second and third but they don’t plan on extending Donovan so it’s better to trade him while his value is at its highest instead of being dumb and keeping him like they did with Fedde and helsley. As it stands the infield will be worse trading Donovan and having Gorman sucking at third so no they aren’t expecting it to be better unless they are dumb

We disagree.
They are not ready to give up on Gorman because he is the only LH HR hitting, RBI producing, bat on the roster who can be leveraged at 3b and 2B.
And it is Donovan, not Gorman, blocking Wetherholt at 2b.
Rightly or wrongly, Bloom believes Wetherholt has a far higher ceiling than Donovan (whose ceiling is already established).
If Donovan is traded, it will be because Bloom believes Wetherholt at 2b makes the infield better, period.
Now, if he wanted to improve the outfield, he would simply move Donovan to LF (which is, of course, the CORRECT BASEBALL DECISION).
But Bloom seems to prefer a different direction currently.
This is the reality of the situation.

Yes I disagree. The infield would be better offensively and defensively with Donovan and JJ at second and third. Gorman sucks and is a step down from even arenado. The only reason they are trading Donovan is because he is their most valuable trade asset and they are rebuilding

If Wetherholt was not poised to take over 2nd base, Bloom would not be shopping Donovan.
If there was no Wetherholt, Donovan would be penciled in to play 2b next season - zero question.
That is the bottom line.
Personally, I think the better choice would be to move Donovan to LF - clearly that is the CORRECT BASEBALL DECISION.
But Bloom has a different vision.
That said, if Mootbaar was healthy at the moment had a successful 2025 season, Bloom would be doing exactly as I correctly advised above.
Donovan would be retained and Mootbaar would be moved.

You’re wrong of course zero question. If they wanted to keep him they could dump the worthless Gorman or play him in left and trade noot or just use him as a super utility guy. He’s their most valuable trade chip by far and they have zero plans to extend him and given those two reasons bloom is smart enough to trade him at peak value instead of playing it dumb like mo did with fedde and helsley that’s why he is getting traded

[Melville]

Montes' loudest tool is still his top-of-the-scale raw power from the left side of the plate, and he's continuing to learn how to get to that pop consistently in games. He has outstanding bat speed with plenty of loft in his swing to drive the ball in the air, and he can regularly register elite-level exit velocities. There is some swing-and-miss to his game and there will always be strikeouts, but he also draws walks (14.4 percent walk rate in 2024) as he's learning to find better pitches to hit. He models his game after and is often compared to fellow Cuban Yordan Alvarez.

He is slow and below average defensively so only corner OF and very likely could end up being a DH due to defensive woes. He is a beast though that can launch the ball with the best of them.

Him and Baez at the corners would make for a pretty good outfield

More unproven talent that will take the Cards to the promised land. Hallelujah! Pass the plate. LOL

Well Donovan hasn’t and won’t take the cardinals to the promised land so pretty dumb to keep him. It’s hilarious some people think Donovan is the type of player you build a team around

Name a starting Cardinal infield that's better without him in it. What we have here is Schrodinger's Donovan. He's too good to not get multiple top tier prospects but yet he's not good enough to keep as a Cardinal. LOL

They’re not trading him because they think the infield will be better without him

Actually, they are.
They are clearing 2b for Wetherholt because they do believe Wetherholt makes the infield better.
Zero dispute.
If they choose to keep Donovan, it would be because they would view him as making the OUTFIELD better.

Actually they aren’t. If they wanted the infield to be significantly better they would trade the unikkorn and have Donovan and JJ at second and third but they don’t plan on extending Donovan so it’s better to trade him while his value is at its highest instead of being dumb and keeping him like they did with Fedde and helsley. As it stands the infield will be worse trading Donovan and having Gorman sucking at third so no they aren’t expecting it to be better unless they are dumb

We disagree.
They are not ready to give up on Gorman because he is the only LH HR hitting, RBI producing, bat on the roster who can be leveraged at 3b and 2B.
And it is Donovan, not Gorman, blocking Wetherholt at 2b.
Rightly or wrongly, Bloom believes Wetherholt has a far higher ceiling than Donovan (whose ceiling is already established).
If Donovan is traded, it will be because Bloom believes Wetherholt at 2b makes the infield better, period.
Now, if he wanted to improve the outfield, he would simply move Donovan to LF (which is, of course, the CORRECT BASEBALL DECISION).
But Bloom seems to prefer a different direction currently.
This is the reality of the situation.

Yes I disagree. The infield would be better offensively and defensively with Donovan and JJ at second and third. Gorman sucks and is a step down from even arenado. The only reason they are trading Donovan is because he is their most valuable trade asset and they are rebuilding

If Wetherholt was not poised to take over 2nd base, Bloom would not be shopping Donovan.
If there was no Wetherholt, Donovan would be penciled in to play 2b next season - zero question.
That is the bottom line.
Personally, I think the better choice would be to move Donovan to LF - clearly that is the CORRECT BASEBALL DECISION.
But Bloom has a different vision.
That said, if Mootbaar was healthy at the moment had a successful 2025 season, Bloom would be doing exactly as I correctly advised above.
Donovan would be retained and Mootbaar would be moved.

You’re wrong of course zero question. If they wanted to keep him they could dump the worthless Gorman or play him in left and trade noot or just use him as a super utility guy. He’s their most valuable trade chip by far and they have zero plans to extend him and given those two reasons bloom is smart enough to trade him at peak value instead of playing it dumb like mo did with fedde and helsley that’s why he is getting traded

If Wetherholt was not poised to take over 2nd base, Bloom would not be shopping Donovan.
If there was no Wetherholt, Donovan would be penciled in to play 2b next season - zero question.
That is the bottom line.
We both know that is true.

[Ozziesfan41]

Him and Baez at the corners would make for a pretty good outfield

More unproven talent that will take the Cards to the promised land. Hallelujah! Pass the plate. LOL

Well Donovan hasn’t and won’t take the cardinals to the promised land so pretty dumb to keep him. It’s hilarious some people think Donovan is the type of player you build a team around

Name a starting Cardinal infield that's better without him in it. What we have here is Schrodinger's Donovan. He's too good to not get multiple top tier prospects but yet he's not good enough to keep as a Cardinal. LOL

They’re not trading him because they think the infield will be better without him

Actually, they are.
They are clearing 2b for Wetherholt because they do believe Wetherholt makes the infield better.
Zero dispute.
If they choose to keep Donovan, it would be because they would view him as making the OUTFIELD better.

Actually they aren’t. If they wanted the infield to be significantly better they would trade the unikkorn and have Donovan and JJ at second and third but they don’t plan on extending Donovan so it’s better to trade him while his value is at its highest instead of being dumb and keeping him like they did with Fedde and helsley. As it stands the infield will be worse trading Donovan and having Gorman sucking at third so no they aren’t expecting it to be better unless they are dumb

We disagree.
They are not ready to give up on Gorman because he is the only LH HR hitting, RBI producing, bat on the roster who can be leveraged at 3b and 2B.
And it is Donovan, not Gorman, blocking Wetherholt at 2b.
Rightly or wrongly, Bloom believes Wetherholt has a far higher ceiling than Donovan (whose ceiling is already established).
If Donovan is traded, it will be because Bloom believes Wetherholt at 2b makes the infield better, period.
Now, if he wanted to improve the outfield, he would simply move Donovan to LF (which is, of course, the CORRECT BASEBALL DECISION).
But Bloom seems to prefer a different direction currently.
This is the reality of the situation.

Yes I disagree. The infield would be better offensively and defensively with Donovan and JJ at second and third. Gorman sucks and is a step down from even arenado. The only reason they are trading Donovan is because he is their most valuable trade asset and they are rebuilding

If Wetherholt was not poised to take over 2nd base, Bloom would not be shopping Donovan.
If there was no Wetherholt, Donovan would be penciled in to play 2b next season - zero question.
That is the bottom line.
Personally, I think the better choice would be to move Donovan to LF - clearly that is the CORRECT BASEBALL DECISION.
But Bloom has a different vision.
That said, if Mootbaar was healthy at the moment had a successful 2025 season, Bloom would be doing exactly as I correctly advised above.
Donovan would be retained and Mootbaar would be moved.

You’re wrong of course zero question. If they wanted to keep him they could dump the worthless Gorman or play him in left and trade noot or just use him as a super utility guy. He’s their most valuable trade chip by far and they have zero plans to extend him and given those two reasons bloom is smart enough to trade him at peak value instead of playing it dumb like mo did with fedde and helsley that’s why he is getting traded

If Wetherholt was not poised to take over 2nd base, Bloom would not be shopping Donovan.
If there was no Wetherholt, Donovan would be penciled in to play 2b next season - zero question.
That is the bottom line.
We both know that is true.

You’re still wrong no matter how many times you repeat it if they wanted to keep Donovan they would keep him because there’s three spots he could play they don’t to keep him easy obvious correct. They don’t expect the infield to be better because they are trading Donovan and keeping Gorman that’s a massive step down. But I’ll let you have have the last word so go ahead and state whatever delusional thing you’re going to say

[BleedingBleu]

You’re still wrong no matter how many times you repeat it if they wanted to keep Donovan they would keep him because there’s three spots he could play they don’t to keep him easy obvious correct. They don’t expect the infield to be better because they are trading Donovan and keeping Gorman that’s a massive step down. But I’ll let you have have the last word so go ahead and state whatever delusional thing you’re going to say

Thinking in hypotheticals. We…
Know they wanted to move Sonny. Done.
Know they want to move Arenado. Sometime.
Are fairly confident they want to move Contreras.
Think they want to move Noot.
Know they want a haul for Donovan.

So, they moved Sonny and replaced him with May.

If they move Arenado, we assume they will replace him with Gorman, although Donovan could play there.

If they move Contreras, we assume they will replace him with Burleson. Others could include Ivan Herrera, Nolan Gorman, Jordan Walker, and/or Brendan Donovan

They are probably not moving 4th OFer Noot, because I doubt they want Joshua Baez, Nathan Church, or Chase Davis Starting on Opening Day, just like how they probably don’t expect Blaze Jordan competing for the job at First Base.

Maybe there’s a very real chance that the only one they can move is Donovan, because honestly what would this roster look like w/out Arenado, Contreras, and Donnie?