Nolan Arenado isn’t the only Cardinals star John Mozeliak is being cheap with this spring

Going into this offseason, the biggest priority for the St. Louis Cardinals was to unload Nolan Arenado’s contract to prepare for a rebuild. John Mozeliak, the Cardinals’ president of baseball operations, has not been able to make this happen to no one’s fault but his own. 

The biggest reason Arenado has not been traded is because Mozeliak is looking to unload all of Arenado’s contract without taking on any of his future salary which is quite a large amount. This cheap mindset from Mozeliak remains on full display with another Cardinals star. 

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Brendan Donovan, Cardinals face arbitration

The St. Louis Cardinals offered infielder/outfielder Brendan Donovan $2.85 million. Coming off of a season where he hit .278 with 14 home runs and 73 RBIs in 153 games, Donovan felt like he deserved a little bit more. 

Donovan’s salary request was far from unreasonable. After declining the Cardinals initial offer, Donovan countered with an ask of $3.3 million. Most teams would gladly accept this to avoid arbitration, especially considering it is less than $1 million more than the first offer. John Mozeliak has chosen a different path. Perhaps the thought process for the Cardinals front office is that $2.85 is a fair enough jump from Donovan’s salary in 2024 ($757,200). Donovan’s request of $3.3 million is not worth disputing but Mozeliak has decided to do just that regardless of the fact that Spring Training is right around the corner. 

The Cardinals and Donovan went to salary arbitration on Tuesday. It is likely that Donovan will win his case and earn the amount of money he is looking for. However, this move shows that Mozeliak is squeezing pennies, trying to keep his payroll as cheap as possible. While the Cardinals most certainly need cap space, openly trying to underpay players will keep individuals from being interested in joining the St. Louis franchise.