GM: John Mozeliak
2014: made playoffs · 90–72. Ranks are vs the 30 teams that season.
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.
| Player | Age | Service | G | fWAR | Salary $M | Surplus $M |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adam Wainwright | 32 | FA-elig | 32 | 5.3 | 19.5 | -3.9 |
| Jhonny Peralta | 32 | FA-elig | 157 | 4.6 | 15.5 | -2.0 |
| Matt Carpenter | 28 | arb | 158 | 3.4 | 1.0 | +9.0 |
| Lance Lynn | 27 | arb | 33 | 3.4 | 0.5 | +9.4 |
| Yadier Molina | 31 | FA-elig | 110 | 3.2 | 15.0 | -5.5 |
| Matt Holliday | 34 | FA-elig | 156 | 3.2 | 17.0 | -7.6 |
| Pat Neshek | 33 | FA-elig | 71 | 2.0 | 1.0 | +4.7 |
| Kolten Wong | 23 | pre-arb | 113 | 1.8 | 0.5 | +4.9 |
| Matt Adams | 25 | pre-arb | 142 | 1.8 | 0.5 | +4.7 |
| Jon Jay | 29 | arb | 140 | 1.7 | 3.2 | +1.7 |
| Michael Wacha | 22 | pre-arb | 19 | 1.6 | 0.5 | +4.3 |
| Carlos Martinez | 22 | pre-arb | 57 | 1.4 | 0.5 | +3.6 |
| Peter Bourjos | 27 | arb | 119 | 1.2 | 1.2 | +2.3 |
| Trevor Rosenthal | 24 | pre-arb | 72 | 1.2 | 0.5 | +2.9 |
| Shelby Miller | 23 | pre-arb | 32 | 1.0 | 0.5 | +2.5 |
| Jaime García | 27 | FA-elig | 8 | 0.6 | 7.8 | -6.1 |
| Seth Maness | 25 | pre-arb | 73 | 0.6 | 0.5 | +1.1 |
| John Lackey↔ BOS | 35 | FA-elig | 10 | 0.5 | 4.9 | -3.6 |
| Joe Kelly↔ BOS | 26 | pre-arb | 7 | 0.4 | 0.2 | +0.9 |
| Randal Grichuk | 22 | – | 47 | 0.3 | 0.3 | +0.5 |
| Pete Kozma | 26 | arb | 14 | 0.3 | 0.5 | +0.3 |
| Tyler Lyons | 26 | pre-arb | 11 | 0.3 | 0.3 | +0.5 |
| Marco Gonzales | 22 | – | 10 | 0.2 | 0.1 | +0.5 |
| Randy Choate | 38 | FA-elig | 61 | 0.2 | 3.0 | -2.4 |
| Eric Fornataro | 26 | – | 8 | 0.0 | – | – |
| Audry Pérez | 25 | – | 1 | 0.0 | – | – |
| Greg Garcia | 24 | – | 14 | 0.0 | 0.1 | -0.1 |
| Keith Butler | 25 | pre-arb | 2 | -0.0 | 0.5 | -0.5 |
| Jorge Rondon | 26 | pre-arb | 1 | -0.0 | 0.0 | -0.1 |
| Sam Freeman | 27 | pre-arb | 44 | -0.0 | 0.4 | -0.4 |
| Tommy Pham | 26 | – | 6 | -0.0 | 0.1 | -0.2 |
| George Kottaras↔ CLE | 31 | – | 4 | -0.1 | 0.0 | -0.2 |
| Joey Butler | 28 | – | 6 | -0.1 | – | – |
| Daniel Descalso | 27 | arb | 104 | -0.1 | 1.3 | -1.6 |
| Xavier Scruggs | 26 | – | 9 | -0.1 | 0.1 | -0.4 |
| Kevin Siegrist | 24 | pre-arb | 37 | -0.2 | 0.5 | -1.1 |
| Nick Greenwood | 26 | – | 19 | -0.2 | 0.3 | -1.0 |
| Sam Tuivailala | 21 | – | 2 | -0.3 | 0.1 | -0.9 |
| Justin Masterson↔ CLE | 29 | FA-elig | 9 | -0.3 | 3.1 | -4.1 |
| Shane Robinson | 29 | arb | 47 | -0.4 | 0.5 | -1.8 |
| Mark Ellis | 37 | FA-elig | 73 | -0.4 | 5.2 | -6.5 |
| A.J. Pierzynski↔ BOS | 37 | FA-elig | 30 | -0.5 | 2.4 | -3.9 |
| Allen Craig↔ BOS | 29 | arb | 97 | -0.6 | 2.1 | -3.8 |
| Jason Motte | 32 | FA-elig | 29 | -0.6 | 7.5 | -9.3 |
| Oscar Taveras | 22 | – | 80 | -0.9 | 0.5 | -3.1 |
| Tony Cruz | 27 | arb | 50 | -1.3 | 0.5 | -4.3 |
| Player | fWAR |
|---|---|
| Jhonny Peralta | 4.6 |
| Pat Neshek | 2.0 |
| Peter Bourjos | 1.2 |
| John Lackey | 0.5 |
| Randal Grichuk | 0.3 |
| Marco Gonzales | 0.2 |
| Player | 2013 fWAR |
|---|---|
| Carlos Beltrán | 2.7 |
| David Freese | 0.5 |
| John Axford | 0.2 |
| John Gast | 0.0 |
| Edward Mujica | 0.0 |
| Jermaine Curtis | 0.0 |
What the front office was committed to as of 2014, 2014–2020. Pre-2015 has no contract-terms data — forward italic $ are realized actuals (hindsight, not commitments known then). Control labels (ARB/FA) are point-in-time.
| Player | Age | Svc | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adam Wainwright | 32 | 8.027 | $19.5M | $19.5M | $19.5M | $19.5M | $19.5M | $2.0M | $5.0M |
| Matt Holliday | 34 | 10.000 | $17.0M | $17.0M | $17.0M | FREE AGENT | |||
| Jhonny Peralta | 32 | 9.118 | $15.5M | $15.0M | $12.5M | $10.0M | FREE AGENT | ||
| Yadier Molina | 31 | 9.123 | $15.0M | $15.0M | $14.0M | $14.0M | $20.0M | $20.0M | $20.0M |
| Mark Ellis | 37 | 11.136 | $5.2M | FREE AGENT | |||||
| John Lackey | 35 | 11.095 | $4.9M | $507k | FREE AGENT | ||||
| Randy Choate | 38 | 9.073 | $3.0M | $3.0M | FREE AGENT | ||||
| A.J. Pierzynski | 37 | 13.100 | $2.4M | FREE AGENT |
| Player | Age | Svc | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jaime García | 27 | 5.047 | $7.8M | FREE AGENT | |||||
| Jason Motte | 32 | 5.027 | $7.5M | FREE AGENT | |||||
| Jon Jay | 29 | 3.134 | $3.2M | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | |||
| Justin Masterson | 29 | 5.108 | $3.1M | FREE AGENT | |||||
| Allen Craig | 29 | 3.077 | $2.1M | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | |||
| Daniel Descalso | 27 | 3.016 | $1.3M | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | |||
| Peter Bourjos | 27 | 3.062 | $1.2M | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | |||
| Pat Neshek | 33 | 5.159 | $1.0M | FREE AGENT | |||||
| George Kottaras | 31 | 4.149 | $16k | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT |
| Player | Age | Svc | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matt Carpenter | 28 | 2.012 | $1.0M | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | ||
| Lance Lynn | 27 | 2.119 | $535k | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | ||
| Trevor Rosenthal | 24 | 1.058 | $521k | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | |
| Tony Cruz | 27 | 2.105 | $521k | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | ||
| Shelby Miller | 23 | 1.030 | $521k | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | |
| Shane Robinson | 29 | 2.030 | $519k | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | ||
| Pete Kozma | 26 | 1.060 | $518k | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | |
| Matt Adams | 25 | 1.033 | $516k | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | |
| Michael Wacha | 22 | 0.062 | $510k | Pre-Arb | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT |
| Seth Maness | 25 | 0.154 | $509k | Pre-Arb | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT |
| Carlos Martinez | 22 | 0.073 | $505k | Pre-Arb | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT |
| Kevin Siegrist | 24 | 0.116 | $505k | Pre-Arb | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT |
| Oscar Taveras | 22 | – | $500k | ||||||
| Keith Butler | 25 | 1.000 | $500k | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | |
| Kolten Wong | 23 | 0.045 | $500k | Pre-Arb | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT |
| Sam Freeman | 27 | 0.104 | $366k | Pre-Arb | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT |
| Randal Grichuk | 22 | 0.000 | $305k | Pre-Arb | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT |
| Nick Greenwood | 26 | 0.000 | $290k | Pre-Arb | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT |
| Tyler Lyons | 26 | 0.070 | $260k | Pre-Arb | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT |
| Joe Kelly | 26 | 1.060 | $215k | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | |
| Greg Garcia | 24 | 0.000 | $117k | Pre-Arb | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT |
| Marco Gonzales | 22 | 0.000 | $108k | Pre-Arb | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT |
| Xavier Scruggs | 26 | 0.000 | $57k | Pre-Arb | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT |
| Sam Tuivailala | 21 | 0.000 | $57k | Pre-Arb | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT |
| Tommy Pham | 26 | 0.000 | $57k | Pre-Arb | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT |
| Jorge Rondon | 26 | 0.061 | $27k | Pre-Arb | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT |
| Audry Pérez | 25 | – | — | ||||||
| Joey Butler | 28 | 0.000 | — | Pre-Arb | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT |
| Eric Fornataro | 26 | 0.032 | — | Pre-Arb | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT |
Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Cardinals 2014; 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.
| Regime | Seasons | Win % | Playoff % | Pennant % | WS % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WINDOW | 289 | 52.2 | 30.1 | 4.8 | 1.0 |
| CONTEND | 311 | 56.8 | 63.0 | 19.3 | 10.3 |
| FORCED-SPEND | 260 | 47.9 | 8.8 | 1.2 | 1.2 |
| REBUILD | 328 | 43.3 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
Not enough history to chart.
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