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MLB Trade Rumors used their model to project salaries for nine Cardinals who are eligible for arbitration this offseason.
The nine total $33.3 MM if my addition is correct, so it is a significant amount. Nootbaar is tops at $5.7 MM with King and Alcala least at $2.1 MM each.
It is not Kosher to copy all their details here, so go there to see the detail, then comment here.
Never mind. Jeff Jones copied it and shared it online. Not cool, IMO, but he put it out there, so here it is.
Actually those nine total $32.3M. I had been estimating $30M in my payroll figures so I was pretty close. If a couple of those guys are non-tndered and/or traded then the arb class will be below $30M.
Alcala and King feel like easy non-tenders to me. I do see at least 1 of these position players that are arb eligible being traded as well since it sounds like Bloom wants to shake things up.
Source: Andre Pallante and the Cardinals have agreed at $4 million to avoid arbitration.
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) January 8, 2026
Source: Lars Nootbaar and the Cardinals have agreed at $5.35 million to avoid arbitration.
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) January 8, 2026
Thank you for those updates GScott. Lower than predicted for Lars, but $4M is a lot to pay for a rebuilding teams 6th/7th starter or middle reliever.
Alec Burleson, Cardinals agree at $3.3 million, avoid arbitration. First year of arb eligibility for Burleson.
— Katie Woo (@katiejwoo) January 8, 2026
Nolan Gorman, Cardinals agree at $2,655,000, avoid arbitration.
— Katie Woo (@katiejwoo) January 8, 2026
#STLCards All-Star second baseman Brendan Donovan agreed to a $5.8 million salary for the 2026 season with the club on Thursday to avoid arbitration, a source confirmed. Donovan, who hit a career-best .287 in 2025, gets a substantial raise over the $2.8 million he made last year.
— John Denton (@JohnDenton555) January 8, 2026
Matthew Liberatore and the #stlcards reach agreement at $2.26 million for 2026, per source.
This was the lefty's first chance at arbitration, and he reached it as a Super-2 and as a starter due to the #Cardinals putting him in the rotation this past spring.
— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) January 8, 2026
JoJo Romero and #stlcards reach agreement for $4.26 million on a one-year deal for 2026, per source.
This is the lefty reliever's final year of arb eligibility before he can become a free agent next offseason.
— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) January 8, 2026
The #STLCards have reached salary settlements with all seven of their arbitration-eligible players, per a cource. There will be no need for arbitration trials like in 2025, when the club and three players (Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbaar and Andre Pallante) had salary disputes.
— John Denton (@JohnDenton555) January 8, 2026
The Cardinals reached agreement with ALL of it’s arbitration eliglible players. No arb hearings needed. I think this is smart by Bloom.
For a quick tabular view of the seven #stlcards arbitration-eligible players salaries, check out my FREE article at The Cardinal Nation. They average a 259% YTY salary increase. Not bad! https://t.co/Dr7FNmUgpP pic.twitter.com/3XXR9edaHW
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) January 8, 2026
Roughly around $27-28 million…but they didn’t play for nothing last year so not a huge increase for $ Bill
Went back and added it up it is roughly a $15 million increase from 2025 to 2026 for the above listed players
Donny & JoJo account for 10mil, if they make to ST with us. Maybe they trade for arb salaries? Or they use cash to backfill? Flip of the coin!
I think the curious thing I see, is the on Roster payroll salary for this year for the 40 man is currently around $82 million…that takes out the $20 million to Gray and $4 million to Contreras this year on their Boston salary and the deferred payments to Waingwright and Holiday ($2.4 million)
If they ship Arenado which is likely that would be a further $16 million reduction to the on Roster payroll….that is an enormous reduction in 2 years, over $100 million.
I’m surprised they settled for $600,000 over the expected for Pallante. He may be out of a SP role based off how spring goes and that is expensive for a long reliever / 6th starter. It is fine to pay him that this year, but then next year it will go up again and he likely is looking at being a non-tender if he isn’t traded.
Some may expect that all of MLBTR’s estimates are perfectly accurate. I appreciate them as estimates because they saved me from trying to do the same, which I did years ago. But teams and perhaps player agents may have access to more sophisticated measurements. Over the years, MLBTR is in the ballpark, but my recollection is that they are pretty much never right on the pin. They might be better served to provide a range rather than a specific number. JMO.
Tarik Skubal and the Tigers are $13 million apart on their arb figure. Boras and Skubal want to really challenge the arbitrarion process for pitchers here and it may alter the arb process going forward.
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