As non-tender deadline passes, St. Louis Cardinals look for added pop on 40-man roster
The St. Louis Cardinals took initial steps toward clarifying their major league roster for the 2021 season on Wednesday, as the deadline passed to tender contracts to players who are eligible for salary arbitration.
Reliever John Brebbia, recovering from Tommy John surgery, was not tendered a contract. Nor was first baseman Rangel Ravelo, who has not yet reached arbitration eligibility.
All other players on the 40-man roster were tendered contracts.
Five Cardinals were eligible for arbitration for the first time — pitchers Brebbia, Jack Flaherty, Jordan Hicks and Alex Reyes, as well as outfielder Harrison Bader.
Reliever John Gant was arbitration-eligible for the second time.
Brebbia, 30, made a team-leading 161 relief appearances between 2017-2019 before undergoing Tommy John surgery this spring in the break between the cancellation of spring training and the resumption of summer camp.
The affable righty recently resumed a throwing program and is scheduled to pitch from a mound in January for the first time since his surgery, placing his recovery timeline at the lower end of the 12-to-18 month span which is typical for Tommy John recovery.
The Cardinals could still pursue a minor league contract with Brebbia, which would allow him to remain part of the organization without keeping hold of a valuable 40-man roster spot during the offseason.
Ravelo, 28, was 6-for-35 with one home run in limited action in 2020. He was sidelined in part by a positive test for COVID-19 during the team’s August outbreak and struggled to carve out a role later in the season, despite being given opportunities in right field.
Ravelo agreed to a contract with a team in the Korean Baseball Organization prior to the 2020 season before being denied permission to go by the Cardinals, as they saw him then as a fit for their bench after the trade which saw José Martínez sent to Tampa Bay.
Brebbia’s presumed role was covered by a degree of redundancy in the Cardinals system, as young relievers Seth Elledge and Kodi Whitley made their debuts in 2020 and proved to be serviceable. Whitley, in particular, drew raves from the coaching staff as early as spring training, and earned a spot on the postseason roster despite the interruption to his season caused by also being swept up in the team’s coronavirus spread.
Neither of the players non-tendered on Wednesday represent significant salary savings for the club, even as they seek to cut payroll. Indeed, in each case, the decision was based primarily on a desire for roster space.
The team’s 40-man roster now stands at 37 players.
Other salary projections from FanGraphs for arbitration-eligible players include $2.6 million for staff ace Flaherty, $1.1 million for the versatile and finally healthy Reyes, and $1.45 million for Bader, the incumbent center fielder who rebounded sufficiently at the plate in 2020 to secure a roster spot headed in to 2021.
Gant, who has been reliable early in the season but failed to make the postseason roster in each of the last two years due to injury and ineffectiveness, is projected to make $1.7 million. That relatively high number made him a candidate to be non-tendered, but manager Mike Shildt has frequently relied on Gant in high leverage situations as a bridge to the back end of the bullpen.
The spate of other non-tendered players around baseball represents an opportunity for teams such as the Cardinals to fill organizational holes for a lower cost than normal, as the glut of available players on the free agent market is likely to advantage potential buyers.
A number of former Cardinals, including Martínez, Greg Garcia and Chasen Shreve, also became free agents on Wednesday after not being offered contracts by their now-former teams.
Outfielder Eddie Rosario, formerly of the Minnesota Twins, cleared outright waivers and was non-tendered after finishing in the top 20 of American League Most Valuable Player voting in each of the last two years. A power hitting, left handed outfielder, Rosario could help fill a power gap which was readily apparent among last year’s hitters.
The Chicago Cubs non-tendered Kyle Schwarber, who would fill a similar role and has familiarity with the NL Central. Schwarber profiles best as a designated hitter, and a determination has yet to be made on whether that position will be utilized in the NL in 2021.
The Cardinals were one of only two teams in the National League to finish with an on base plus slugging percentage of less than .700. They were 14th of 15 teams in slugging percentage, and their 51 home runs (in two less games than their opposition) were seven fewer than were hit by any other team.
