5 Cardinals who are on bargain contracts, 3 who are massively overpaid

Utility man Brendan Donovan is being criminally underpaid in 2025.

You'll often find that players who have yet to hit arbitration or are actively in arbitration are severely underpaid. These players are in the prime of their careers.

That is exactly the case for the illustrious (untouchable?) Brendan Donovan. Donovan will likely log most of his innings in left field next season, but he could easily play third base or second base next year. He is an on-base machine who has added some power since his rookie year. His ISO has risen .043 points in only two seasons, and he's managed to get his strikeout percentage in the low-12% range.

Donovan is a plus defender with strong offensive numbers, and that in and of itself is valuable. Once you consider the fact that he'll get paid around $3 million next year for what will probably be a three-WAR season, and you have one of the most underpaid players on the team in 2025. Oh, and let's not forget that Brendan Donovan is quickly becoming a leader for the St. Louis Cardinals in the clubhouse.

Shortstop Masyn Winn will be a bargain in 2025.

Any player in pre-arbitration coming off a season like Masyn Winn just did is severely underpaid. Alas, 'tis the structure of Major League Baseball right now.

Masyn Winn, in his first full season in the majors, racked up 3.6 fWAR. He was a stud defensively, and his offensive output surprised many skeptics. Winn finished 2024 with a .267/.314/.416 slash line, 15 home runs, and 85 runs scored. That was more than what we could've asked for out of the 22-year-old. Honestly, the only areas where Winn could improve would be with drawing walks and stealing bases, but that will come as he familiarizes himself with major-league pitchers.

Winn has yet to hit arbitration. Therefore, he'll receive a salary near the league minimum amount of $760,000. What a bargain!

Allow me to also insert here that the Cardinals should absolutely make efforts to extend Masyn Winn through his team control years and the first few years of free agency. I proposed an extension earlier this offseason that feels amenable to both parties. If the Cardinals want to really lean into this youth movement, extending their best young player would be a strong indication of said movement.