SPDustin May 2.5 · Andre Pallante 1.5 · Michael McGreevy 1.3 · Kyle Leahy 1.3 · Matthew Liberatore 0.5
BP★ Riley O'Brien 17 · JoJo Romero 16 · Ryne Stanek 11 · George Soriano 9 · Justin Bruihl 6 · Gordon Graceffo 3 · Matt Svanson 1 · Ryan Fernandez 0
Each position lists its starter then backups by games (so platoons & bench show). Starters (mound) & bullpen (left, foul territory) are ranked by WAR; ★ marks the closer (most save chances). MLB Stats API.
2026 roster — value & surplus
Player
Age
Service
G
fWAR
Salary $M
Surplus $M
JJ Wetherholt
23
–
98
6.0
0.8
+36.7
Jordan Walker
24
pre-arb
101
3.9
0.8
+23.9
Dustin May
28
FA-elig
20
3.9
12.0
+12.7
Alec Burleson
27
arb
102
2.9
3.3
+15.3
Andre Pallante
27
arb
19
2.4
4.0
+11.3
Masyn Winn
24
pre-arb
95
2.2
0.8
+12.8
Kyle Leahy
29
pre-arb
19
2.0
0.8
+12.1
Michael McGreevy
25
pre-arb
20
2.0
0.8
+11.9
Iván Herrera
26
pre-arb
102
1.5
0.8
+8.7
Lars Nootbaar
28
arb
39
1.1
5.2
+1.6
Riley O'Brien
31
pre-arb
42
0.9
0.8
+4.7
Matthew Liberatore
26
pre-arb
20
0.8
2.3
+2.5
Pedro Pagés
27
pre-arb
59
0.7
0.8
+3.5
Hunter Dobbins
26
pre-arb
6
0.6
0.0
+4.1
Bryan Torres
28
–
35
0.6
0.5
+2.9
José Fermín
27
pre-arb
67
0.4
0.8
+2.0
George Soriano
27
pre-arb
46
0.4
0.8
+1.9
Ryan Fernandez
28
pre-arb
11
0.3
0.6
+1.6
Justin Bruihl
29
pre-arb
44
0.3
0.8
+0.8
JoJo Romero
29
arb
44
0.2
4.3
-3.0
Blaze Jordan
23
–
30
0.2
–
–
Bruce Zimmermann
31
–
1
0.1
–
–
Jimmy Crooks
24
–
31
0.1
0.5
+0.2
Matt Pushard
28
–
6
0.0
0.8
-0.5
Matt Svanson
27
pre-arb
39
0.0
0.3
-0.1
Brycen Mautz
24
–
1
0.0
0.0
+0.1
Max Rajcic
24
–
6
0.0
–
–
Scott Blewett
30
–
1
0.0
–
–
Nathan Church
25
pre-arb
85
-0.1
0.8
-1.2
Jared Shuster
27
pre-arb
5
-0.1
0.1
-0.8
Ryne Stanek
34
FA-elig
44
-0.2
3.5
-4.7
Nelson Velázquez
27
–
29
-0.2
0.5
-1.7
Yohel Pozo
29
pre-arb
18
-0.3
0.8
-2.5
Victor Scott II
25
–
61
-0.4
0.3
-2.8
Ramón Urías
32
arb
25
-0.4
1.5
-4.1
Gordon Graceffo
26
pre-arb
42
-0.4
0.8
-3.5
Nolan Gorman
26
arb
62
-0.4
2.7
-5.4
Luis Gastelum
24
–
7
-0.5
–
–
Thomas Saggese
24
pre-arb
32
-0.6
0.8
-4.7
Chris Roycroft↔ TBR
29
pre-arb
7
-0.6
0.0
-4.1
César Prieto
27
pre-arb
6
-0.7
0.6
-4.8
Key additions (new vs 2025)
Player
fWAR
JJ Wetherholt
3.8
Dustin May
2.5
Hunter Dobbins
0.4
George Soriano
0.3
Justin Bruihl
0.2
Bruce Zimmermann
0.1
Key subtractions (gone from 2025)
Player
2025 fWAR
Sonny Gray
3.6
Brendan Donovan
2.9
Willson Contreras
2.8
Steven Matz
1.2
Phil Maton
1.0
Nolan Arenado
0.9
Current & Historical Payroll
2026 payroll
$54.9M
luxury tax $52M
2027 guaranteed
$30.0M
What the front office was committed to as of 2026, 2026–2032.
Guaranteed $ are contract commitments signed by 2026; arbitration & free-agent years are projected from service time. Hover a figure for its luxury-tax (CBT) & actual-cash values.
current $guaranteed $arbitration (proj)pre-arb (proj)free agentclub optionplayer optionmutual optionvesting option
Summary — luxury-tax (CBT) basis
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
Tax threshold
$244M
$247M
$250M
$253M
$256M
$259M
$262M
Guaranteed contracts
$18M
$16M
Proj. arbitration
$19M
Proj. pre-arbitration
$14M
$2M
Player benefits
$18M
$18M
Total CBT payroll
$70M
$36M
Tax space
+$174M
+$211M
Est. tax bill
—
—
Luxury-tax (CBT) basis: contract AAV + ~$18M benefits/bonus-pool — distinct from the base-salary payroll above. Threshold is the CBA line. Tier-1 payor rates on the overage. Forward years show only guaranteed deals (arb/pre-arb not yet set). Figures are estimates.
Guaranteed / signed (3)
Player
Age
Svc
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
Dustin May
28
6.059
$12.0M
$20.0MMUTUAL
FREE AGENT
Ryne Stanek
34
8.038
$3.5M
$6.0MCLUB
FREE AGENT
Ramón Urías
32
5.025
$1.5M
$4.0MMUTUAL
FREE AGENT
Arbitration-eligible (6)
Player
Age
Svc
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
Lars Nootbaar
28
4.076
$5.2M
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
JoJo Romero
29
5.045
$4.3M
FREE AGENT
Andre Pallante
27
3.145
$4.0M
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Alec Burleson
27
3.029
$3.3M
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Nolan Gorman
26
3.114
$2.7M
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Nelson Velázquez
27
3.031
$505k
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Pre-arbitration (27)
Player
Age
Svc
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
Matthew Liberatore
26
2.144
$2.3M
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Justin Bruihl
29
1.112
$850k
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Yohel Pozo
29
1.052
$800k
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Masyn Winn
24
2.045
$799k
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Jordan Walker
24
2.044
$799k
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Iván Herrera
26
2.034
$799k
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Pedro Pagés
27
1.166
$797k
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Kyle Leahy
29
1.140
$796k
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Riley O'Brien
31
1.129
$795k
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
George Soriano
27
1.095
$793k
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
José Fermín
27
1.075
$792k
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Michael McGreevy
25
0.091
$785k
Pre-Arb
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Thomas Saggese
24
0.144
$783k
Pre-Arb
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Nathan Church
25
0.043
$782k
Pre-Arb
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
JJ Wetherholt
23
–
$780k
Matt Pushard
28
–
$780k
Gordon Graceffo
26
0.091
$755k
Pre-Arb
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
César Prieto
27
0.031
$609k
Pre-Arb
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Ryan Fernandez
28
1.090
$606k
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Jimmy Crooks
24
–
$505k
Victor Scott II
25
2.000
$326k
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Matt Svanson
27
0.116
$256k
Pre-Arb
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Jared Shuster
27
1.148
$105k
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Chris Roycroft
29
0.150
$27k
Pre-Arb
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Hunter Dobbins
26
0.152
$4k
Pre-Arb
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Scott Blewett
30
1.102
—
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Bruce Zimmermann
31
2.129
—
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Graphs
Cardinals's path through relative payroll × TAB, smoothed; markers grow and the arrow points toward the present. WINDOW cheap&winning · CONTEND expensive&winning · FORCED-SPEND dead zone · REBUILD cheap&losing. Compare franchises →
Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Cardinals 2026; the black line = the league-average player at each slot that season. Staying above the line deep into the roster is the depth edge; dropping below it = holes & dead weight.
What each regime is worth — every settled team-season since 1985