3 Cardinals contracts we were happy to see end, and 2 we're still eager to see expire

Let's check out 3 Cardinals contracts we were happy to see end, and 2 we're still eager to see expire.

While the St. Louis Cardinals have done an efficient job in avoiding albatross contracts in the past few decades, no club is completely immune to such a thing.

Some of them started off strong and limped to the finish line. Some players were superstars in their pre-Cardinals days but just couldn't figure it out in St. Louis, and some of the players have been just straight-up bad.

There are a few examples of this in recent memory and some that are currently happening on the Cardinals' roster.

We were happy to see Carlos Martínez's contract expire.

Martínez broke into the league with the Cardinals as a 21-year-old in 2013. He found success as both a starter and reliever before settling into a starting role from 2015 to 2018.

A two-time All-Star, Martínez could be a tease for Cardinals fans, as sometimes he flashed ace potential and sometimes he seemed to have trouble looking like a big league pitcher.

Prior to the 2017 season, he signed a five-year, $51M extension with the club. At the time, this seemed like a well-deserved raise, as he had come off of two straight dominant seasons on the mound. He went 12-11 in 2017, making the All-Star Game and striking out over 200 batters for the first and only time in his career.

2018 went well for him, too, but every year after that started a slow decline for him. In 2019, he made a move to the bullpen after returning from a rotator cuff injury, earning 24 saves along the way, but the wheels completely fell off in 2020. In five starts, Martínez had a 9.90 ERA after surrendering 22 earned runs on 32 hits in just 20 innings.

In 2021, his final year as a Cardinal, Martínez made 16 awful starts before an injury sidelined him for the remainder of the season. In 2022, he was suspended for PEDs and then later suspended once again for violating the MLB Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, and Child Abuse Policy.

While Martínez had his moments in a Cardinals uniform, all of the recent developments tied to his name make us thrilled that he's long gone.

We were happy to see Matt Carpenter's contract expire.

Carpenter spent the first 11 years of his big league career in St. Louis and became a hero in that time, his inclusion on this list is tough but necessary nonetheless.

Not only did he lead the league in doubles twice, but he was also the major league leader in hits and runs scored back in 2013 and led the NL in walks in 2014 with 95. He made two All-Star Game appearances, earned MVP votes on three separate occasions, and had a 122 OPS+ in over 1,300 games with the Cardinals.

All of Carpenter's success with the Cardinals happened before he turned 34. In 2020, his age-34 season, his numbers began to dip into uncharted territory. He didn't look like himself the year prior but he remained a solid contributor in the lineup, but the wheels fell off in the COVID-shortened season.

In 50 games, Carp saw his average dip to .186 and he paired with an OPS+ of 79, meaning he was 21 percent below league average. In 2021, the second season of the two-year, $39M extension he signed early on in the 2019 campaign, he got even worse. This time around, he played 130 games and hit just three home runs with a batting average of .169 and an OPS+ of 63.

Unfortunately, Carpenter's storied Cardinals career ended with a whimper rather than a bang. He has since found success in a 47-game showing with the Yankees last year and turned that into a multi-year pact with the San Diego Padres.

We were happy to see Dexter Fowler's contract expire.

By the time Fowler made his way to St. Louis, he had already established himself as a well-liked veteran who had some serious wheels and even developed 15-20 home run potential.

A longtime member of the Colorado Rockies, Fowler had topped 10 triples four times, a feat that is rarely seen in today's game. His next stop was on the division rival Cubs, which is where he made his only All-Star Game and developed his pop. He was also a part of the 2016 World Series-winning club.

In December of 2016, Fowler agreed to a five-year, $82.5M contract with the Cardinals, earning a massive and perhaps well-deserved payday. In 2017, he had one of the best offensive seasons of his career, hitting 18 home runs with 64 RBI in 118 games, posting a 122 OPS+ along the way.

In 2018, he made a full-time switch to right field but only made it into 90 games, being placed on the 60-day injured list with a foot injury. Even when he was healthy, he did not perform even close to the level he had in the year prior.

In 2019, he was once again healthy and hit a career-high 19 home runs with 67 RBI. His average dipped a bit from his strong 2017 season but his OPS+ sat at 100, which is still league-average.

2020 saw him once again perform poorly and perhaps begin to show his age a bit. The then-34-year-old had a hard time getting going in the COVID-shortened campaign and was beginning to seem like a burden on the Cardinals' payroll.

Sure enough, the veteran was traded to the Angels in February of 2021 with the Cardinals throwing in some cash as well. Ultimately, his Cardinals tenure ended with a whimper and the Cards had to pay a team for them to get rid of him.

Fowler only just recently retired, and we congratulate him and thank him for his services to the club, but his contract quickly became an albatross in St. Louis.

We can't wait for Drew VerHagen's contract to expire.

VerHagen came up in the Detroit Tigers system and seemed to be a promising starter in the making when he broke into the big leagues with the club in 2014.

Outside of a strong 20-game showing as a reliever in 2015, things have yet to go his way at the major league level. In parts of six years as a Tiger, he went 10-10 with a 5.11 ERA and 88 ERA+ in 127 appearances and 199 innings.

At the end of the 2019 season, he was cut loose and signed a one-year contract in Japan with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. This turned into another one-year deal after that thanks to his successes over there. In 38 games in Japan, he posted a much more impressive 3.51 ERA with 215 strikeouts in 207 innings of work.

VerHagen's emergence as a reliable pitcher helped him land a two-year, $5.5M contract with the Cardinals to return stateside prior to the 2022 season. Unfortunately, things once again just didn't go his way.

In 19 appearances last year, the now-32-year-old had a dreadful 6.65 ERA and an equally-awful 6.53 FIP paired with a 58 ERA+. He struggled to limit hard contact and frankly, got lit up like a Christmas tree. In 21.2 innings of work, he surrendered 16 earned runs on 27 hits and five home runs.

Fortunately, VerHagen is playing out a cheap contract, so it's not like he's bogging down the pocketbook of Cardinals' ownership. If he struggles to start the year, the best bet for the club may be to just eat the remainder of the salary and move on to a better option.