Cardinals Rumors: Latest on Nolan Arenado & Brendan Donovan

As the Winter Meetings in December draw closer, we’re likely to learn the fate of Nolan Arenado, Brendan Donovan and maybe even Alec Burleson soon as the St. Louis Cardinals continue to reshape their roster for the 2026 season and beyond. Here’s the latest reports on which teams seem to be interested and what the Cardinals have said about the availability of these players.

Let’s start with Nolan Arenado. President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom answered a question during his live-stream press conference after Sonny Gray was traded from Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about the latest from Nolan. “Nothing significantly different to report…things are exactly where they were when we last talked”. Mike Petriello from MLB.com made the case that the three most likely teams to make a trade for Nolan Arenado were the Anaheim Angels, the Arizona Diamondbacks or the Boston Red Sox. The Angels option for Arenado has become a hot topic after MLB Trade Rumors reported that they were negotiating a contract buy-out with Anthony Rendon as he is expected to retire. The D-backs traded Eugenio Suárez to Seattle which left Blaze Alexander as their 3rd baseman, but there are reports that they have outfield plans for him. As for the Red Sox, it’s unclear if they’re willing to bring back Alex Bregman after he opted out. It’s possible the Cardinals could reignite trade talks with them if the answer for Bregman is no. The Sporting News tossed out the New York Mets as a Nolan Arenado option just a few days ago while the Phillies and Tigers are said to have some level of interest, too. Ken Rosenthal shared on the Foul Territory podcast a few days ago that he is convinced that the St. Louis Cardinals will move Nolan Arenado.

There are very few contending teams that have not been connected to Brendan Donovan so far in the offseason. He has been much sought after by the Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, Cleveland Guardians, Kansas City Royals, and New York Mets according to MLB Trade Rumors. Katie Woo of The Athletic is reporting that the Cardinals might hold onto Donovan unless they are “blown away by an offer” as shared by St. Louis Sports Central.

The Cardinals have reportedly said the same about the likelihood of trading Alec Burleson. There have also been whispers that Nolan Gorman and Lars Nootbaar could be a part of trade packages. Iván Herrera, Masyn Wynn and JJ Wetherholt seem to be the only real untouchables during this rebuild. You can also add Liam Doyle and many of the Cardinals young pitchers to the “do not touch” list. There have been some teams that have expressed interest in JoJo Romero, though.

While the team is known to be aggressively shopping Nolan Arenado, they expect premium returns for Donovan and/or Burleson. It will be interesting to see how active Chaim Bloom and his team are at the upcoming winter meetings that will be starting on December 7.