This evening, Katie Woo of The Athletic published an article with the headline “Mariners, Giants emerge as front-runners for Brendan Donovan trade: Sources.” Woo was the site’s Cardinals beat writer until
this offseason, when she left that beat to cover the Dodgers, but she obviously still has her sources in St. Louis. That could mean they’re negotiating through the press, in which case it’s unclear who the message is for, but within her report is even more surprising news: the Giants are also rumored to be talking to Arizona about Ketel Marte.
That’s the part of this that caused me to drop everything and rush to the computer to whip up a post. I was content with assuming the Giants were cool with the second base group they have on hand, given the ZiPS projection discussed the other day and even if Casey Schmitt’s health is uncertain for the start of the season. Yesterday, I demanded the Giants make three specific moves, including upgrading their mix in the outfield. Both Donovan and Marte have logged innings there, but their best spots are probably on the infield (or DHing). It’s clear the Giants are swinging big.
They were both All-Stars in 2025. The left-handed hitting Donovan will be 29 next season and carries an arbitration projection of $5.4 million. He has a career line of .282/.361/.411 with a 9.1 BB% and 13.5 K%. Ketel Marte will play his age-32 season in 2026 and is owed… well… it’s complicated. It’s $15 million, but, well, Cot’s has the deal structure here and there are deferrals built into it that lowers the present day payment to around $12.3 million. It’s an extremely owner-friendly deal for a top tier talent, which in the near-term is exactly what Buster Posey needs to appease ownership. He’s under contract through 2030 with a player option for 2031, his age-37 season, and that’s where it might get tricky. Still, these have been two of the hottest names on the trade market this offseason and it’s fascinating to see the Giants linked to them at all, because the acquisition cost will be very high.
Ketel Marte is the best position player on the Diamondbacks not named Corbin Carroll and his only real wart — and it’s a meaningful one, to be sure — is an injury history. He’s played 140+ games just 3 times in 11 seasons. He’s missed 20% of Arizona’s games the last two seasons, but he’s made up for it with All-Star value when healthy, generating 6.3 fWAR in 136 games during 2024 and 4.6 in 126 this past season. He was limited to just second base and designated hitter, so the idea of sticking him in left field is probably farfetched. Donovan had surgery to repair a sports hernia after the season and was limited to 118 games during the season. He played 18 games in left field.
They’re pretty different players, with Marte being a complete package of contact, on base, and power, while Donovan is more of a contact-on base guy. Their projections are different enough, too, with Donovan in the 3-WAR range and Marte 4.5. To get either one of them, the Giants will have to cough up a lot of prospects. It’s highly unlikely Bryce Eldridge could stay out of a Marte deal, and in the case of a Donovan trade, Katie Woo offers Gavin Kilen and Carson Whisenhunt.
Now, is she offering them on behalf of the Cardinals as a way to compel the Mariners — the lead team in the headline — to up their offer with a demonstration of what they’re looking for by way of the Giants’ inventory or to signal to the Giants that that’s how a deal gets done? Either is possible. Then again, maybe her sources aren’t trying to negotiate anything in the press. Still, if we see Giants beat writers pausing their Saturday night plans to post that they haven’t heard anything beyond Posey & co. being engaged in multiple conversations and simply keeping their options open, then we might have a better sense that this report isn’t intended for Giants fans.
I’m a little bit fascinated by this. The Giants being used as a stalking horse or simply “random other team” in all these rumor reports is not new and is still the most likely explanation. On the other hand, with the Giants being wary of spending at the top of the market to fill all of their needs, being connected to cheap but valuable options like Freddy Peralta or Brendan Donovan or Ketel Marte makes a lot of sense — if that’s what’s really going on.
