As I told you earlier on Tuesday, I love the move that the Seattle Mariners made on Monday afternoon to acquire Brendan Donovan from the St. Louis Cardinals.

In my opinion, this is the kind of move that championship-hopeful teams make, and no, I don't think they gave up too much prospect capital.

But that said, things with the move are not necessarily perfect. There are two things on my mind that stand out as worries, and I covered them on the 'Refuse to Lose'' podcast on Tuesday morning.

From the podcast:

"If you're asking me what in this deal concerns me, it's the thing that no one's talking about right now, and that's the defense. Like, that's the thing that concerns me.

I think Brendan Donovan is the favorite to start the year at third base. He's played 40-something games at third base in his career. Hasn't played there since 2024 because the Cardinals had Nolan Arenado and others.

Like, we just saw with Jorge Polanco, just plopping a guy at third base isn't necessarily an easy thing to do.

So, you look at it and you say, "JP Crawford's defense is regressing." Now he's gonna play on a left side with Brendan Donovan, a guy that we're not quite sure how he's gonna be. Cole Young is not known as a great defender. Randy Arozarena is not a great defender.'

Cal (Raleigh) is a very good defender and a Platinum Glove winner. Naylor, I think, is pretty deft over at first. Robles is a good defender. I mean, Julio (Rodriguez) is a great defender.

So, the Mariners have very good defensive pieces. But if Brendan Donovan is playing third, defense would be my biggest concern.

So, like, that's the thing that worries me the most in all of this is the Mariners defense. It's not who they gave up. It's not how the roster fits. It's not where the batting order lies. It's the defense."

I also wrote on Tuesday that I don't believe the prospect capital that the Mariners gave up is too much, but I am admittedly nervous about trading the No. 68 draft pick to the Cardinals. Missing out on a second-round ish talent AND reportedly $1.3 million in slot money is notable. It impacts the Mariners ability to acquire a solid player AND it impacts their ability to sign a high-end high schooler. If they have to be safer in the draft and take less impact, that has an impact on your system strength as a whole.

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