Cardinals' 2026 payroll gains clarity as arbitration deadline passes

Thursday was the deadline for teams and players to agree on their 2026 salaries and the St. Louis Cardinals were successful in those negotiations. After going to arbitration hearings with three players last season, St. Louis avoided that process this year and agreed to contracts with all seven players who were eligible for raises.

The St. Louis Cardinals avoided arbitration hearings with all seven eligble players

One of Chaim Bloom's major offseason plans was to trim payroll and he has done that so far, sending cash to the Boston Red Sox in trades involving veterans Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras. The expected payroll for St. Louis could dip well below $100 million, and the actual number that the Cardinals will shell out to their players is becoming clearer after Thursday. The ability to agree on seven contracts on the same day gives Bloom and Co. a more finalized picture of what the projected payroll looks like as Spring Training approaches. While expecting Bloom to shell out massive dollars on the free agent market, he may have a concrete number that ownership is willing to allow him to spend.

MLB Trade Rumors used their salary projection tool to estimate payroll figures and anticipated some raises for the majority of the players, with Lars Nootbaar projected to take home the most money.

As the actual numbers came in, one of the biggest surprises was the fact that pitcher Andre Pallante almost doubled his salary from $2.1 million in 2025 to $4 million this year. Even with a 6-15 record and a 5.31 ERA, Pallante saw a massive bump in his paycheck. Also grabbing a significant raise is outfielder Lars Nootbaar, who is entering the 2026 season with health questions again after undergoing double heel surgery early in the offseason. Noot's salary will jump from just under $3 million to $5.35 million in 2026, below his MLBTR projection but still a great yearly raise.

Brendan Donovan is the winner in the deadline contract conversations as he signed for $5.8 million, a near $3 million increase from last season. Donovan is arbitration-eligible for one more season, allowing the Cardinals to be stingy in their asking price on the utility man in trade talks. Unlike Donovan, reliever JoJo Romero went through the arbitration for the final time and pocketed $4.25 million in his agreement. Romero is a sought-after late-inning bullpen arm, but those trade discussions have yet to materialize beyond rumored connections.

The final three players who agreed to new contracts hope to be part of the long-term plan in St. Louis for years to come. Infielder Nolan Gorman, first baseman Alec Burleson, and pitcher Matthew Liberatore all signed deals before the deadline, with Burly being the high earner of the group at $3.3 million. Gorman, who hopes to push his way into a starting role if and when an infield trade happens, signed for $2.65 million his first go around through arbitration.

Liberatore, however, fell well below his projection and agreed to a $2.26 million deal as a Super-2 player, meaning his was eligible for the arbitration process a year earlier than normal. While that figure seems low based on his solid 2025 season as a starter, but Derrick Goold explained that Libby's status as a Super-2 makes the salary bump tough to predict. Even with the seemingly low contract, Liberatore will triple his previous year's paycheck.