While the Cardinals reached agreements on Thursday to avoid arbitration hearings for three relief pitchers, they could not reach agreements with a trio of arbitration-eligible players including outfielder Lars Nootbaar, starter Andre Pallante, utilityman Brendan Donovan.
Nootbaar filed for a 2025 salary of $2.95 million while the Cardinals filed at $2.45 million, the Post-Dispatch’s Derrick Goold confirmed Thursday night. Pallante filed at $2.1 million while the Cardinals filed at $1.95 million, per Goold.
Donovan and the Cardinals were $450,000 apart on salary exchanges for the 2025 season as Donovan filed at $3.3 million and the Cardinals $2.85 million, per MLB.com reporter Mark Feinsand.
The differences could lead to arbitration hearings with each player if a multi-year deal is not reached before then. In years past, the Cardinals have used a “file and trial” approach like other clubs across Major League Baseball.
People are also reading…
Last year, Tommy Edman and the Cardinals did not reach an agreement ahead of the same deadline, but avoided arbitration by agreeing on a two-year deal.
The arbitration system used to determine a player’s salary for the upcoming season is based on player comparisons, service time, games played, performance, and a player’s role. Hearings are expected to begin later this month.
Nootbaar, who earned just above the $740,000 league minimum in 2024, was limited to 109 games (or 405 plate appearances) because of separate rib and oblique injuries. The 27-year-old produced a .244 batting average, a .342 on-base percentage, and a .758 on-base plus slugging percentage.
Nootbaar’s on-field production in the limited action translated to a 1.7 WAR (Wins Above Replacement) and a 114 wRC+ (weighted runs created-plus), per FanGraphs. A wRC+ of 100 is considered league average.
After moving from a bullpen role to the starting rotation, Pallante became arbitration-eligible through Super Two status. For a player to reach Super Two status, they must rank in the top 22% when it comes to big-league service time among players who have accumulated two and three years in the majors.
Without Super Two status, a player must reach three years of service time to be eligible for salary arbitration.
Once he moved into a consistent spot in the Cardinals’ rotation by the end of last May, Pallante went 8-7 with a 3.56 ERA. Pallante, 26, struck out 88 batters in 111 1/3 innings as a starter. As a whole for 2024, Pallante, who made nine appearances as a reliever, produced a 1.8 WAR after producing a 0.6 WAR as a rookie in 2022 and a -0.1 WAR in 2023. The 121 1/3 innings the 26-year-old righty logged across 2024 were a career high.
Coming off a 2023 season limited because of injury, Donovan batted .278 with a .342 on-base percentage and a .759 OPS in a career-high 153 games. The 27-year-old Donovan played 105 games in left field where he was named a finalist for a Rawlings Gold Glove Award. Donovan, who won the utility Gold Glove as a rookie in 2022, came up short in his bid for a second defensive honor.
Donovan ended the 2024 season with a 3.2 WAR, per FanGraphs. That placed him second in WAR among Cardinals position players for the 2024 season behind rookie shortstop Masyn Winn (3.6). Among Cardinals position players last year, only former Redbird Paul Goldschmidt appeared in more games (154) and had more plate appearances (652) than Donovan.
Ahead of Thursday’s deadline to exchange arbitration figures, the Cardinals agreed to one-year contracts for 2025 with relievers Ryan Helsley, JoJo Romero, and John King.
Helsley, coming off a second All-Star season and a franchise-record 49 saves, had his salary increase from $3.8 million to $8.2 million while Romero, who notched 30 holds in his high-leverage role, reached a deal for $2.26 million after earning $860,000 in 2024, per Goold.
The raise King received after earning $1.005 million in 2024 was not made public as of Thursday night.
