ST. LOUIS – A Cardinals franchise in the beginning stages of a rebuild for the first time in more than three decades got some financial clarity on Thursday when it reached salary settlements with its seven arbitration-eligible players.
All-Star second baseman Brendan Donovan and lefty relief ace JoJo Romero, two players whose names have surfaced in trade talks throughout the winter, avoided arbitration by agreeing to salaries for the 2026 season, alongside Silver Slugger Award winner Alec Burleson, starting pitchers Matthew Liberatore and Andre Pallante and lefty sluggers Lars Nootbaar and Nolan Gorman.
Donovan, the Cardinals’ lone All-Star representative in 2025, agreed to a deal for $5.8 million, a source confirmed. Donovan, who will turn 29 on Jan. 16 and earned $2.85 million last season in arbitration, hit a career-best .287 and tied his career-best mark of .422 in slugging to go with 10 home runs and 32 doubles in 2025.
Romero, 29, will make $4.25 million in 2026 in his final year of arbitration before qualifying for free agency in 2027, per the source. In his first year of arbitration eligibility, Burleson landed a $3.3 million deal after leading the Cardinals in batting average, slugging and OPS in 2025, while Nootbaar agreed to a $5.35 million salary in his second round of arbitration, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. Pallante ($4 million) nearly doubled his salary despite his struggles in 2025, while childhood friends Liberatore ($2.26 million) and Gorman ($2.65 million) earned raises in their first years of being arbitration-eligible.
A Cardinals franchise that has missed the playoffs each of the past three seasons traded away veterans Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras to the Red Sox in two separate deals this winter. The club, now under the direction of new president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom, signed right-hander Dustin May in free agency and is hoping to build around its young core of players, including some of the five pitching prospects received in the Gray and Contreras deals.
A skilled hitter with elite bat-to-ball skills, Burleson became a more disciplined hitter in 2025, and his offensive numbers soared. Burleson, who won the National League’s utility Silver Slugger Award after playing first base in 50 games and outfield for 75 games, reached career highs in batting average (.290), on-base percentage (.343), slugging (.459), OPS (.802), doubles (26) and triples (two). He also smashed 18 home runs with 69 RBIs.
Romero, 29, crafted a 2.07 ERA over 61 innings pitched in 2025. He recorded 24 holds and many of his eight saves in nine tries came after the Cards traded Ryan Helsley, Phil Maton and Steven Matz ahead of the Trade Deadline. Romero ranked in MLB’s 95th percentile in ground-ball rate (57.1%) and 88th percentile in hard-hit rate (35.1%), per Baseball Savant.
Nootbaar is coming off surgery near the Achilles tendon on both of his heels in October. The outfielder, who hopes to be ready for Spring Training following the surgeries, had a disappointing 2025 despite notching career-bests in games played (135), at-bats (509), hits (119) and doubles (24). He saw his strikeouts soar to a career-most 119, while his batting average (.234), on-base percentage (.325), slugging (.361) and bWAR (1.3) dipped. The Cardinals still believe the 28-year-old outfielder possesses characteristics of an elite hitter as he ranked in MLB’s 87th percentile in hard-hit rate (50%), 87th percentile in chase rate (22%) and 79th percentile in average exit velocity (91.3 mph), per Baseball Savant.
Pallante showed tremendous promise as a starting pitcher in 2025 and will be battling for a starting slot in Spring Training, but he struggled mightily in the second half, going 1-10 with a 6.64 ERA after the All-Star break. While he gets a high ground-ball rate (97th percentile in MLB) and keeps the ball off the barrel for the most part (79th percentile), his struggles in getting swing-and-miss have stalled his progress. His 15.5% strikeout rate (4th percentile), 25.5% chase rate (17th percentile) and 22.3% whiff rate (25th percentile) lag.