5 non-tendered players the St. Louis Cardinals should consider signing

The non-tender deadline was last week, and teams had the opportunity to extend a contract to their arbitration-eligible players. After the dust had fallen, 63 players were not tendered contracts by their respective teams. Each of these players now becomes a free agent, thus opening the opportunity for any team to sign them.

The St. Louis Cardinals had 9 players who were eligible to have a contract tendered to them: Dylan Carlson, Tyler O'Neill, Tommy Edman, JoJo Romero, Ryan Helsley, Andrew Knizner, Dakota Hudson, Jake Woodford, and Juan Yepez. Knizner, Hudson, Woodford, and Yepez were not tendered contracts and are now free agents.

St. Louis had seen enough of Jake Woodford to know that they could find a better swingman through free agency or internal promotion. Knizner was more than likely excess due to the promotion of Pedro Pages and the ascension of Ivan Herrera. Dakota Hudson was who he was at this point in his career, and St. Louis had plenty of other young pitchers who could fill his spot. Juan Yepez was an interesting non-tender, but his defense wasn't enough to justify a spot on the roster.

Of the other 59 non-tendered players, five of them should be intriguing players for the Cardinals to target. These players were non-tendered due to their high price tag, a severe injury, or underperformance in recent history. St. Louis is looking for starting pitching and relief pitching, particularly relievers with high-leverage experience. Additionally, St. Louis is looking for a bridge reliever who is able to pitch multiple innings in relief.

St. Louis will have to bid against other teams with these non-tendered players. Also, keep in mind that teams didn't find enough value in some of these players to sign them to a one-year contract that is a decent price compared to other contracts. These non-tendered candidates probably won't move the needle too much for St. Louis next year, but they could fill the holes that the team has. The Cardinals' 40-man roster currently stands at 36, so they won't be able to sign all five of these players.

All salary projections that I will use will come from MLB Trade Rumors.

Here are five non-tendered players who could be appealing to the St. Louis Cardinals.