Cardinals Agree to Terms with 24, but Renew Pham

photo: Tommy Pham (Scott Kane/USA TODAY Sports Images)

St. Louis Cardinals press release

The St. Louis Cardinals announced today (Monday, March 5) that they have agreed on one-year contracts for 2018 with 24 players.   The team also announced that it has renewed the contract of outfielder Tommy Pham.

Agreeing to terms were pitchers Matt Bowman, John Brebbia, Jack Flaherty, John Gant, Austin Gomber, Derian Gonzalez, Conner Greene, Dominic Leone, Josh Lucas, Mike Mayers, Alex Reyes, Ryan Sherriff, Sam Tuivailala and Luke Weaver; catcher Carson Kelly; infielders Greg Garcia, Jose Martinez, Yario (sic) Munoz, Edmundo Sosa, Breyvic Valera, Luke Voit and outfielders Harrison Bader, Oscar Mercado and Tyler O’Neill.

Brian Walton’s take

Obviously, Paul DeJong is not listed here, after the morning announcement of a six-year, $26 million contract. (Details here)

In case you did not understand why Pham was listed separately above, it is because he did not agree to accept the amount the team offered him. However, since the outfielder will not become arbitration-eligible until next year, he has no choice but to take their salary – if he wants to play in 2018. Looking ahead, it would not surprise me for Pham and the Cardinals to go to a hearing at his first shot in February 2019 – perhaps unless the club decides to make him a DeJong-type long-term offer before then.

The other 24 named above, all 40-man roster players, accepted what the Cards were willing to pay them, as expected. 99 percent of these younger players with no leverage do.

All minimum salary amounts are defined in the Collective Bargaining Agreement between players and owners, which is now into its second of five years. The minimum major league salary this season is $545,000, up $10,000 from 2017.

Update: Pham turned down a two-year contract offer from the team and his 2018 salary is $575,000, according to the Post-Dispatch.

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