Inside The Cardinals

Cardinals Lose Arbitration Hearing Against Rising Star As Spring Training Kicks Off

The St. Louis hurler is ready to be impactful in 2025
Nate Hagerty|
Sep 2, 2024; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Andre Pallante (53) pitches in the first inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images
Sep 2, 2024; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Andre Pallante (53) pitches in the first inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images | Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

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St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals finished their final arbitration hearing for the offseason on Thursday and can now focus on prepping for spring training.

On Wednesday, Gold Glove defender Brendan Donovan and fan favorite Lars Nootbaar split even against the Cardinals in their arbitration hearings -- the former lost his case, while the latter won.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, they picked up another loss this winter after a young hurler won his first arbitration case against the 11-time World Series champions.

"Andre Pallante has won his arbitration hearing against the Cardinals, per source," MLB.com's Mark Feinsand first reported Thursday. "Pallante will earn $2.1 million in 2025; the Cardinals had filed at $1.925 million."

With the Cardinals focused on shedding payroll this offseason, it comes as no surprise that they weren't able to settle with Pallante outside of an arbitration hearing.

Pallante's counteroffer to St. Louis wasn't far off -- less than a $200k difference. It seems silly of the Cardinals to go through the extra effort of saving a few bucks by electing to have the youngster's case settled by an arbitrator.

However, St. Louis holds an 8-4 record in arbitration hearings for the past 30 years, so the Cardinals weren't concerned with losing Pallante's case.

The 26-year-old logged an 8-8 record with a 3.78 ERA, 94-to-48 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .240 batting average against and a 1.30 WHIP in 121 1/3 innings pitched for the Cardinals throughout his breakout season as a starting pitcher in 2024.

The homegrown right-handed pitcher is expected to be relied on in the rotation behind veterans Sonny Gray, Erick Fedde, and Miles Mikolas. Hopefully, there will be no hard feelings between Pallante and the Cardinals organization following the results of his arbitration case. It was just business, nothing personal.

More MLB: Cardinals Linked To Pair Of AL Contenders Following Unfortunate Alex Bregman Deal

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Nate Hagerty
NATE HAGERTY

Nate Hagerty joined “Inside The Cardinals” as a content creator to spread knowledge about his favorite childhood team. A hometown native of Boston, Hagerty chose at an early age of six years old to follow the St. Louis Cardinals. The miraculous season of 04’ for the Red Sox did not deter Hagerty from rooting against his hometown team, nor did it in 2013 against the Red Birds. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding Inside The Cardinals, please reach out to Scott Neville: nevilles@merrimack.edu 

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