St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom made the first big splash of his offseason rebuild by dealing starting pitcher Sonny Gray to the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday. Bloom served in the same role with Boston from the end of 2019-23.

The Cardinals also sent the Red Sox $20 million to cover part of Gray's $30-plus million salary in 2026. Even with the money sent over, St. Louis saved roughly $15 million for next season.

The Cardinals are looking to shed money as they go through this rebuild, and while Tuesday was a good start in that regard, they did see their payroll increase in other ways. Several players earned raises through the pre-arbitration bonus pool.

Here's a list of the Cardinals players and the bonuses they earned this season:

Ivan Herrera, C: $356,773

Alec Burleson, UTIL: $277,847

Matthew Liberatore, P: $219,532

Victor Scott, OF: $213,735

How the pre-bonus pool is allocated to players is determined by the most recent collective bargaining agreement between the MLB and MLB Players Assocation (MLBPA).

The money is determined by factors such as placement individual awards — such as the MVP, Cy Young award, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger — and honors such as All-MLB teams. The max a player can win for an award is $2.5 million for MVP or Cy Young.

Remaining money in the pre-arbitration bonus pool is allocated using a WAR formula.

That information came from the Associated Press.

Herrera didn't win an individual award but was a nominee for an all-MLB selection and a Silver Slugger award. Herrera was fifth on the team in fWAR (FanGraphs). He had a 2.7 WAR, which ranked behind Gray (3.6), Gold Glove-winning shortstop Masyn Winn, second baseman Brendan Donovan (2.9) and first baseman Willson Conteras (2.8).

Burleson won the National League's Silver Slugger award for utility players.

Scott was named a finalist for a Gold Glove award but ultimately didn't win.

Now that the order of bonuses is settled, Bloom and St. Louis will likely continue to work for the rest of the offseason at establishing a foundation for the organization's rebuild.

Nolan Arenado is expected to be traded or released while players like Burleson, Donovan and Lars Nootbaar could be dealt. Reliever JoJo Romero is also generating trade interest.

St. Louis finished fourth in the National League Central in 2025.

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