According to a recent report from Ken Rosenthal of 'The Athletic,' the Kansas City Royals are no longer a suitor for St. Louis Cardinals utility player Brendan Donovan in a trade.

Per Rosenthal:

The Kansas City Royals are increasingly unlikely to land either of the two hitters they pursued in trades: the St. Louis Cardinals’ Brendan Donovan and Boston Red Sox’s Jarren Duran.

The Royals have made other moves this offseason, trading for Issac Collins and bringing in Lane Thomas, an outfielder formerly of the Washington Nationals and Cleveland Guardians.

Given the cost-controlled nature of Donovan's contract, and the fact that he is under control for two seasons, he was an ideal trade candidate for the mid-market Royals. The reasons for which they are dropping out are unclear, but the Cardinals still have options when it comes to Donovan. The Seattle Mariners, San Francisco Giants and Boston Red Sox have all been interested this offseason, and ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney recently said that he believes Donovan is one of the next big pieces to fall with less than one month to go until spring training.

And it really depends on the internal evaluations of the Cardinals. I think the Giants, who’ve had a relatively quiet winter, have an acute need at second base. They had an OPS just over .600 from those players, so Donovan would be a really nice player for them.

You do wonder about all the moves that the Red Sox have made during the course of the winter. Two trades with St. Louis. Does that mean that Chaim Bloom likes to dig into his—you know, he used to run the Red Sox—so does that mean he prefers to grab players he knows over those he doesn’t know as well?

It remains to be seen exactly where this is going to play out, but Brendan Donovan certainly is one of the next dominoes to fall."

Having just turned 29, Donovan is a a four-year veteran of the Cardinals. He hit .287 in 2025 with 10 homers and 50 RBIs, also posting a .353 on-base percentage and a 119 OPS+. He also earned his first All-Star selection. Donovan is a career .282 hitter who had only a 13.0 percent strikeout rate last season, and with all of baseball is looking to improve upon its strikeout prevention rate, Donovan has been an attractive trade option.

He spent 100 games at second base, 18 in left field, six at shortstop and two at designated hitter in 2025 and was named a finalist for the Silver Slugger Award at the utility position, losing out to teammate Alec Burleson.

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