Another significant deadline in Major League Baseball’s offseason comes tonight, when teams must tender contracts to players or risk losing them to free agency. The St. Louis Cardinals must make some decisions about their players’ futures.
While a “resetting” club like the Cardinals may not feel as compelled as other organizations to non-tender some players, there are a few candidates who should be anxious as the deadline approaches.
Here are 3 Cardinals who are at risk of being non-tendered before tonight’s deadline
1B Luken Baker
Starting with a “bang,” Luken Baker again finds himself in the same scenario he was in previous to the 2024 season, sitting third on the first base depth chart (and possibly lower).
Despite Paul Goldschmidt’s free agency, a “new” right-handed bat is ahead of him on the depth chart, with Willson Contreras moving to first base this offseason. The Cardinals will want Contreras’ bat in the lineup every day, so anticipate him to play first base or designated hitter in 150+ games as long as he remains healthy. Alec Burleson is also ranked ahead of Baker, and because he can play in the outfield and bats left-handed, he adds more value to the roster. As things stand, it’s difficult to picture Baker sitting on the Cardinals’ bench.
I’m not sure whether Baker is the “strongest” prospect to be non-tendered, but he’s a name that fans may not realize may be gone.
LHP Zack Thompson
Zack Thompson, who entered Spring Training as the Cardinals’ “next man up” if someone in their rotation went down, was instantly given the opportunity to start for St. Louis as Sonny Gray opened the season on the injured list. Thompson struggled in his opportunity, posting a 9.53 ERA in five games (two starts) for the Cardinals.
Thompson failed to recapture his velocity in Memphis, with a 4.40 ERA in 21 games at Triple-A. Even with the Cardinals’ veteran arms, I believe Thompson currently ranks below Andre Pallante, Michael McGreevy, Quinn Mathews, and potentially even Tink Hence in the early 2025 rotation. This doesn’t even include Sem Robberse, Adam Kloffenstein, and Gordon Graceffo, who are all on the Cardinals’ 40-man roster.
Thompson might be a left-handed bullpen option for the Cardinals in 2025, or they could give him another try to start, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he is non-tendered today.
RHP Ryan Loutos
This is not quite fair to Ryan Loutos, but given that he only got to pitch 2.1 innings for St. Louis last year and slipped behind Chris Roycroft and Kyle Leahy on the depth chart, they may use his 40-man roster spot this summer to make way for other young pitchers.
The Cardinals presently have one open 40-man roster position. We don’t expect them to be particularly active in terms of adding players this offseason through free agency or aggressive “buyers” trades, but I highly doubt they won’t make any changes, and even if they sell a player like Ryan Helsley, they may bring in others in that trade that require 40-man spaces.
