St. Louis Cardinals News: John Brebbia, Rangel Ravelo non-tendered

As the non-tender deadline passed on Wednesday evening, the St. Louis Cardinals did not tender contracts to two longtime players.

Around baseball, teams have been shocking fans with the players that have been non-tendered this week. For the St. Louis Cardinals and their eligible players, five were offered contracts while two were not.

Harrison Bader, Jack Flaherty, Jordan Hicks, John Gant, and Alex Reyes were all re-upped while Rangel Ravelo was not offered a contract and John Brebbia was non-tendered, making them both free agents.

Brebbia is perhaps the more surprising pick here as the 30-year-old has had a stellar, if limited, career in the Majors to this point. He is currently rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and was expected to be able to participate by the time spring training came around in 2021.

According to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the Cardinals are still interested in signing Brebbia back to a minor league contract, saving them some money while hopefully retaining the player.

It seems that a lot of the players that have been surprising non-tenders fall under that same umbrella. It isn’t that the team doesn’t want them, it’s that they want them at a lower price. Guys like Eddie Rosario, Adam Duvall, and more have all been listed almost as soon as they were non-tendered as strong candidates to resign with their former teams.

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This is a clever way to save money, but teams doing that do risk losing the player as any team can bid on them.

Ravelo was not arbitration-eligible, but with John Nogowski and other bench options to play behind Paul Goldschmidt available, letting Ravelo go makes sense. He came into 2020 a lot slimmer and looked a lot better in the field and on the bases, but ultimately didn’t find much success. With the wealth of backup first base options available this winter, a more proven bat than Ravelo is readily available.

Brebbia was really the only non-tender candidate that had any argument behind it, with all the other players being easy picks to be tendered. Alex Reyes’ performance on the field in 2020 likely saved him as he finally had a consistent healthy year. The team will gladly welcome Jordan Hicks back in 2021 after he missed the entirety of 2020 as well.

It’s disappointing to see Ravelo and Brebbia let go, but tough decisions have been a theme of the year and each team has been faced with them this winter. Getting Brebbia back on a minor league deal would be huge and is certainly something to watch as the winter continues. Now, the Cardinals must negotiate with the five players they did tender contracts to.