The second-base trade market is heating up, with the Giants as a driving force. Looking to upgrade at the keystone, San Francisco reportedly has been engaged in trade discussions for both the Cardinals’ Brendan Donovan and the Cubs’ Nico Hoerner.
Donovan has been a strong candidate to be traded all offseason, and the Giants have long been considered a potential landing spot. The Mariners also have been closely linked to the St. Louis second baseman. Meanwhile, Hoerner’s chances of being dealt have seemingly increased after the Cubs landed third baseman Alex Bregman over the weekend, giving Chicago an infield surplus.
The D-backs’ recent decision to end trade talks for Ketel Marte has also put more of a spotlight on Donovan and Hoerner.
With rumors swirling, we asked five of our reporters to weigh in on what this might mean for the clubs involved.
Mark Feinsand (Senior national reporter)
Donovan seems like a near-lock to be traded, but with a number of clubs potentially interested, the Cardinals are going to wait for the right deal to emerge before making a move. In addition to the Giants and Mariners, the Red Sox are one of the clubs in need of a second baseman -- assuming, of course, that they don’t sign Bo Bichette.
Hoerner is an intriguing trade candidate following the Bregman deal, but the Cubs aren’t in the same position as the Cardinals in that they don’t have to trade Hoerner, who is a free agent next season. Chicago could keep Hoerner, use Matt Shaw as a super-utility player and slot Shaw in at second base a year from now. If the Giants do trade for a second baseman, Donovan has to be considered the frontrunner.
Maria Guardado (Giants beat reporter)
The Giants have Casey Schmitt projected to serve as their starting second baseman this year, but he’s currently rehabbing from left wrist surgery and remains relatively unproven. Donovan and Hoerner are both Gold Glove-winning defenders who are known for their contact skills, so they would be ideal fits to upgrade a position where the Giants ranked 27th in the Majors with a .616 OPS in 2025.
Donovan might be a bit more attractive since he’d be under team control for two seasons and can also play the outfield, which is another area of need for San Francisco. Still, it’s worth noting that Hoerner is a Bay Area native who attended Head-Royce School in Oakland and played at Stanford, so perhaps he’d be open to signing a long-term extension with the Giants if they manage to pry him away from the Cubs.
John Denton (Cardinals beat reporter)
Having already traded veterans Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras and Nolan Arenado for a haul of prospects this winter, the Cardinals are in the beginning stages of their first full-scale rebuild in more than three decades. Trading Donovan, their lone All-Star representative in 2025, would fall in line with the club’s goals of shedding payroll and creating playing opportunities for their younger players.
The Cardinals have Donovan’s likely replacement at second base already in their system, as top organizational prospect JJ Wetherholt is expected to push for a spot on the Opening Day roster in Spring Training.
Still, the loss of Donovan -- who agreed to a $5.8 million salary for 2026 on Thursday to avoid arbitration -- would sting. One of the team’s leaders in the clubhouse and on the field, the second baseman also hit a career-best .287 with 10 homers, 32 doubles and 50 RBIs in 118 games last season. Donovan, who will turn 29 years old on Friday, ranked in MLB’s 96th percentile in batted balls being squared up (36.8%) and in MLB’s 95th percentile in whiff rate (13.4%) in 2025, per Baseball Savant. Also, the lefty-hitting Donovan struck out just 13% of the time, ranking in MLB’s 92nd percentile.
Donovan, who can play three positions on the infield and both corner-outfield slots, became the first rookie in the rich history of the Cardinals to win a Gold Glove in 2022. He was also a finalist for the NL’s Utility Gold Glove award in 2024.
Jordan Bastian (Cubs beat reporter)
Echoing Feinsand’s breakdown, while Hoerner is indeed a trade candidate, the Cubs would need to be blown away to deal a player who is a leader behind the scenes and on the field. Chicago’s motivation to deal Hoerner could be to create more room between where the payroll stands and the first Competitive Balance Tax threshold ($244 million).
That said, Hoerner is a key part of Chicago’s roster. And the Bregman move creates a built-in contingency plan (Shaw moving to second) if Hoerner departs next offseason in free agency. In the more immediate picture, the depth guards against injuries and allows manager Craig Counsell ways to keep guys fresh, mixing Shaw at multiple spots or rotating players in and out of the DH role.
So, yes, Hoerner could be dealt, but the Cubs are a better team by keeping this current infield group intact. Making that kind of trade made more sense when Chicago was still searching for an impact arm to add to the rotation. The front office addressed that need by acquiring Edward Cabrera from the Marlins. With that need filled, the bulk of the Cubs’ roster looks set for ‘26. There is not a clear need to be filled via trade, barring a desire to free up some payroll and maybe add to the farm system.
Daniel Kramer (Mariners beat reporter)
Jerry Dipoto made it no secret at the Winter Meetings that the Mariners are indeed seeking one more impact bat -- and preferably to primarily play the infield. Yet, in the month since, the Mariners and their president of baseball operations have been mostly quiet, at least publicly and on their transactional front.
Seattle's specific need became even more pressing shortly after the Meetings, when postseason hero Jorge Polanco took a more lucrative offer from the Mets (two years, $40 million). That's not to say that Dipoto and general manager Justin Hollander haven't been working aggressively behind the scenes.
The Mariners had indeed engaged the Cardinals earlier this offseason on Donovan, but sources with knowledge of the discussions said at the time that St. Louis was more motivated to trade its more expensive assets -- which it did Tuesday in Arenado. That could be the spark that gets things moving.
Separately, while it's unclear how much Dipoto and Hollander have engaged the Cubs on Hoerner since Bregman agreed to terms with Chicago over the weekend, Seattle did have extreme interest in him last offseason and was in deep discussions on a trade before Chicago pivoted by acquiring Kyle Tucker from Houston for Isaac Paredes, which gave the Cubs more of a need for Hoerner in '25.