Cardinals Reach Contract Agreements With 2026 Pre-Arbitration Players

CARDINALS REACH CONTRACT AGREEMENTS WITH 29 PRE-ARBITRATION SERVICE TIME PLAYERS

JUPITER, Fla., March 11, 2026 – The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that they have signed 29 of their pre-arbitration service time players to contracts for the 2026 season and that shortstop Masyn Winn has opted to have his contract renewed.  The team now has all players on its 40-player Major League roster under contract for the 2026 season.

Today’s announced signings include the following players: OF Joshua Baez, C Leonardo Bernal, LHP Justin Bruihl, OF Nathan Church, C Jimmy Crooks, RHP Hunter Dobbins, INF José Fermin, RHP Ryan Fernandez, RHP Richard Fitts, RHP Gordon Graceffo, RHP Tink Hence, C Iván Herrera, LHP Cooper Hjerpe, RHP Kyle Leahy, LHP Brycen Mautz, RHP Michael McGreevy, RHP Riley O’Brien, C Pedro Pagés, INF César Prieto, RHP Matt Pushard, LHP Nick Raquet, RHP Tekoah Roby, RHP Chris Roycroft, INF Thomas Saggese, OF Victor Scott II, RHP George Soriano, RHP Matt Svanson, OF Bryan Torres and OF Jordan Walker.

— STL —

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Nothing surprising here. Since all of these guys are pre-arbitration, the team controls how much they make. They all make around the MLB minimum salary ($780k), with first year players at the minimum and more experienced players getting slightly more. These guys have little negotiating power and just have to accept what they get.

Players, like Wynn has, can refuse to sign their contracts, but they will still make the same amount; this is part of the archaic system that MLB has held over the players since the beginning of the game.

After 3 seasons (or 2 if the service time works out in their favor), a player will then be arbitration eligible and potentially see a significant raise.

Look for the 2026 Salary Matrix in the next few days.