5 Cardinals the team should go to arbitration with, 2 to extend, and 2 to non-tender

Every year, MLB Trade Rumors puts out incredibly helpful arbitration projections for all 30 MLB teams heading into the offseason. The St. Louis Cardinals have a lot of names to consider extending offers to, going to arbitration with, or non-tendering.

Nine players in total will have the option to go to arbitration with the Cardinals this offseason, including Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbaar, Matthew Liberatore, JoJo Romero, Alec Burleson, Nolan Gorman, John King, Andre Pallante, and Jorge Alcala. Some of those names represent the future of the Cardinals' ballclub, others are transition pieces, and a few are caught in limbo regarding their status with the club.

I'm going to go through each of the names of this list and divide them into three categories:

1. Players with whom the team should go to arbitration or settle on one-year deals.
2. Players whom the Cardinals should be looking into long-term extensions for.
3. Players whom the club would be wise to non-tender this winter

Let's dive into each of those categories and how I think the Cardinals should handle this list of names this offseason.

John King and Jorge Alcala are clear non-tender candidates for the Cardinals

Right off the bat, I don't see why it would be necessary for the Cardinals to bring back John King or Jorge Alcala based on their projected arbitration estimates.

King, whom the Cardinals acquired in the Jordan Montgomery/Chris Stratton trade back at the 2023 trade deadline, has been a helpful piece for their bullpen over the last few years, but is coming off a really poor campaign that aligned more with his expected numbers than his previous campaigns have. In 51 appearances, King posted a 4.66 ERA and 5.00 FIP, covering 48.1 innings of work and resulting in a -0.4 fWAR. According to FanGraphs' "Dollars" stat, King was actually worth -$3.5 million in 2025, and has never been worth more than $2 million in value for the Cardinals during his time with the club.

King is projected to earn $2.1 million in arbitration this winter, so unless he's willing to settle for a sizable haircut, I don't see why he makes sense to bring back. King also only has one option remaining, so long-term, he's not a super flexible asset for their roster.

Alcala, who has no options remaining, is also projected $2.1 million in arbitration this offseason, but his 6.22 ERA in 56 appearances for the Twins, Red Sox, and Cardinals this year doesn't exactly inspire much confidence. He has been a productive reliever in prior seasons, including posting a 3.24 ERA in 54 games in 2024, but like King, he has rarely even produced $2 million of value for a club in a given season and was a negative asset in 2025.

For reference, the Cardinals took a $2 million flyer on Phil Maton in spring training last year, and that turned out to be an excellent investment. No, I'm not saying they can just go sign another All-Star caliber reliever for $2 million this offseason, but I'd rather take two flyers on veterans like Maton in free agency than roll the dice with King and Alcala again.