The 2026 salaries for several of the Cardinals' best players were revealed Thursday.
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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