The St. Louis Cardinals have entered a sort of rebuild that began at the beginning of the offseason. St. Louis opted to let a few veterans walk in free agency rather than attempt to re-sign any of them. Among the veterans who left in free agency was former MVP Paul Goldschmidt, who’s off to a fast start with the New York Yankees.
As the Cardinals enter this rebuild, there aren’t many additions to make, but there are certainly other ways they could set their roster up for the future.
Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter recently predicted the Cardinals would sign 28-year-old utility man Brendan Donovan to a contract extension worth $60 million over five years.
“The Cardinals have not been shy about handing out early extensions, and Donovan is a logical candidate for a long-term deal,” Reuter wrote. “The 27-year-old is the active version of Ben Zobrist, with terrific on-base skills and defensive versatility. A deal that buys out his final two arbitration seasons at $5 million in 2026 and $10 million in 2027 before paying him $15 million annually over what would be his first three years of free agency makes sense for both sides.”
Donovan plays everywhere for St. Louis and does it at a high level. The 28-year-old has two years of arbitration left on his deal, but this prediction assumes the Cardinals will buy out these final two years in order to have him under team control for three additional seasons.
This would be a huge move for the team to make because Donovan is going to be a crucial piece of the Cardinals’ eventual turnaround.
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