Cardinals, Brendan Donovan At Odds Over Surprising Amount Of Money

Will the two sides come together on a new deal soon?
Sep 28, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Brendan Donovan (33) bats against the San Francisco Giants during the eighth inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Robert Edwards-Imagn Images
Sep 28, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Brendan Donovan (33) bats against the San Francisco Giants during the eighth inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Robert Edwards-Imagn Images / Robert Edwards-Imagn Images
In this story:

The St. Louis Cardinals have some tough decisions to make.

Thursday was a busy day across Major League Baseball. Teams and arbitration-eligible players had to file possible salaries by Thursday's deadline. While a good chunk of arbitration-eligible players and teams and came to terms on deals before the Thursday deadline, not everyone did.

The deadline to file was Thursday, but players and teams can still negotiate now. Players who didn't come to terms on a deal can head toward an arbitration hearing with the team. In this scenario, the team and the player would enter into a hearing where they would both say why they believe the salary should be a certain number and then a panel of arbitrators would make the final decision.

The Cardinals had some players that they had to make decisions on. St. Louis avoided arbitration with three players, including Ryan Helsley. The team didn't agree to deals with three others, though. The three are utility man Brendan Donovan, outfielder Lars Nootbaar, and hurler Andre Pallante.

Donovan is the most interesting of the three to take a look at. There were rumblings on Thursday that the team and Donovan were "close" to a multi-year deal. The two sides haven't agreed to one yet and didn't settle on a number for the 2025 season. MLB.com's Mark Feinsand reported that Donovan filed at $3.3 million and the Cardinals filed at $2.85 million.

"Arbitration exchange update: Brendan Donovan filed at $3.3 million; the Cardinals filed at $2.85 million," Feinsand said.

It's surprising that the Cardinals and Donovan are at odds over under $500,000. If the Cardinals want to keep the utility man around beyond 2025 as the multi-year deal rumors hint at, why risk any bad blood?

More MLB: Yankees Eyeing Ex-Cardinals All-Star In Free Agency, Per Insider


Published
Patrick McAvoy
PATRICK MCAVOY

Patrick McAvoy's experiences include local and national sports coverage at the New England Sports Network with a focus on baseball and basketball. Outside of journalism, Patrick also is pursuing an MBA at Brandeis University. After quickly rising as one of the most productive writers on the site, he expanded his reach to write for Baseball Essential, a national baseball site in Sports Illustrated Media Group. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding Inside The Cardinals, please reach out to Scott Neville: nevilles@merrimack.edu