Cardinals First Arbitration Domino Falls With $4M Deal For Righty

Another deadline is approaching around Major League Baseball.

Teams have until Thursday afternoon to file salary numbers for arbitration-eligible players. This is a topic that will impact the vast majority of teams. Every arbitration-eligible player needs to have the player and team file salary numbers on Thursday. If the team and player can come to terms on a deal, they can avoid arbitration. If not, there will be an opportunity for both sides to go to a hearing and make their case about why the number they filed was the correct one.

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One thing that is important to note is that with the arbitration filing deadline, both parties just have to file numbers in. Afterward, they can come to terms on deals before a hearing, but that's a case-by-case basis. The St. Louis Cardinals have seven players to watch: JoJo Romero, Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbaar, Andre Pallante, Matthew Liberatore, Nolan Gorman, and Alec Burleson.

The Cardinals got their first move out of the way

Sep 23, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Andre Pallante (53) throws against the San Francisco Giants during the first inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Eakin Howard-Imagn Images | Eakin Howard-Imagn Images

The first domino reportedly fell ahead of the deadline on Thursday with Robert Murray of FanSided reporting that the Cardinals and Pallante avoided arbitration with a $4 million pact for the 2026 campaign.

"Source: Andre Pallante and the Cardinals have agreed at $4 million to avoid arbitration," Murray wrote.

Pallante had a brutal 2025 season, but this is still a fair value. Pallante made 31 starts for the franchise and logged a 5.31 ERA. Obviously, not what you want to see. But he's just 27 years old and still has upside. If you look back at the 2024 season, you can see that. Pallante appeared in 29 games -- including 20 starts -- and had a 3.78 ERA and a 94-to-48 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 121 1/3 innings pitched.

His first two seasons were mainly as a reliever. As a rookie, he logged a 3.17 ERA in 47 appearances -- including 10 starts -- in 2022. In 2023, he had a 4.76 ERA in 62 outings.

With Pallante, the biggest thing arguably is figuring out the right role for him. He has shown a bit of success as a starter and as a reliever, but has had his fair share of struggles as well. A $4 million price tag for a hurler -- whether a starter, reliever, or some sort of swingman -- is a fair value in general, with the cost of pitching out there and now there are more dominoes to come.

More MLB: Where Cardinals Stand As Arbitration Filing Deadline Arrives