The St. Louis Cardinals have spent most of the offseason acquiring assets in various trades in efforts of bolstering its farm system for its current rebuild.

Most of the moves that haven't happened for the Cardinals, such as the ever-present Nolan Arenado and Brendan Donovan trade rumors, also seem centered around that goal.

Building for the future is still the ultimate goal for St. Louis, but the present is still something that needs to be handled.

The formal deadline for major league teams and players to reach terms on arbitration was 1 p.m. ET on Jan. 8.

According to confirmed sources as of 4 p.m. ET Jan. 4, the Cardinals agreed to 2026 arbitration salaries with seven players, many of whom are among the best performers on the team.

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Here's a breakdown of the players' reported arbitration numbers and their stats from this past season, per MLB Trade Rumors:

JoJo Romero, LHP: $4.26 million

2025 stats: 2.07 ERA, 55 SOs, 61 IP, 65 appearances

Lars Nootbaar, OF: $5.25 million

2025 stats: 135 games, .234/.325/.361, .686 OPS, 24 doubles, 1 triple, 13 HRs, 64 RBIs

Brendan Donovan, 2B: $5.8 million *2025 All-Star

2025 stats: 118 games, .287/.353/.422, .775 OPS, 32 doubles, 10 HRs, 50 RBIs

Andre Pallante, RHP: $4 million

2025 stats: 5.31 ERA, 111 SOs, 162.2 IP, 31 starts

Nolan Gorman, UTIL: $2.655 million

2025 stats: 111 games, .205/.296/.370, .666 OPS, 14 doubles, 1 triple, 14 HRs, 46 RBIs

Alec Burleson, UTIL: $3.3 million *2025 Silver Slugger winner

2025 stats: 139 games, .290/.343/.459, .802 OPS, 26 doubles, 2 triples, 18 HRs, 69 RBIs

Matthew Liberatore, LHP: $2.26 million

2025 stats: 4.21 ERA, 122 SOs, 151.2 IP, 29 starts

Overview

• Donovan is St. Louis' only All-Star from this past season. He was the team's highest-earner in arbitration ($5.8 million) and has been one of the most sought-after players on the trade block. Donovan is in his second year of arbitration.
• Burleson won his first career Silver Slugger this past season, which coincided with his first year of arbitration.
• Liberatore played his first full year as a starting pitcher in 2025. This offseason was his first year of arbitration.
• Even with the current arbitration numbers, the Cardinals are projected to have less payroll in 2026 than they did in 2025. Spotrac projects the team to have a 2026 payroll of $108.555 million compared to a '25 end-of-season payroll of $153.507 million.

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