Major League Baseball’s contract tender deadline arrived on Friday as the offseason’s next major signpost, and the St. Louis Cardinals turned in a largely expected result.

All six of their players who were eligible for salary arbitration were tendered contracts for the 2025 season.

Closer Ryan Helsley (third time), lefty relievers John King and JoJo Romero (second time) and pitcher Andre Pallante, outfielder Lars Nootbaar and utility player Brendan Donovan (first time) made up this year’s arbitration-eligible class of Cardinals.

Right-handed pitcher Adam Kloffenstein, not yet eligible for arbitration, was not tenured a contract and became a free agent.

Kloffenstein, 24, made his major league debut in 2024 during the Cardinals’ game at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. He was the first player in the history of the American and National Leagues to make a debut in the state of Alabama, and he pitched a perfect eighth inning to record a hold in the 6-5 St. Louis victory over the San Francisco Giants.

Kloffenstein’s removal from the roster makes him the second pitcher this week to be cut from the 40-man after being acquired at the 2023 trade deadline. Lefty Drew Rom cleared waivers on Tuesday and was assigned to Memphis outright, remaining in the organization.

Typically a player enters the MLB salary arbitration process after reaching three years of major league service. They then have their salary set through the process for an additional three years before reaching free agency.

Both King and Pallante fall into this category; Pallante will have three more arbitration-eligible seasons of control after 2025, and King will have two.

For Helsley, the official tender of a contract from the Cardinals might mark one of the last pieces of business done between him and the club before a trade materializes.

MLB Trade Rumors publishes an annual set of projections for arbitration salaries based on a player’s statistical record and the historical context of the salary awards, and Helsley projects to make $6.9 million through arbitration in 2025.

Teams and players in the arbitration process have until the middle of January to reach an agreement on a salary figure before hearings are scheduled.

Though the sides are permitted to negotiate in the interregnum between the setting of a hearing and the hearing occurring, the Cardinals are one team among the swelling ranks of so-called “trial and file” teams, in that they commit to attending an arbitration hearing once the date is set.

The exception to that, historically, has been for multi-year contracts. The Cardinals and Tommy Edman set a hearing date last winter, for instance, which was ultimately avoided when the sides agreed to a two-year extension before his July trade to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Helsley is the most recent Cardinal to attend a hearing, ahead of the 2023 season. He lost that hearing and then last season agreed to a contract prior to the January deadline.

King’s salary projection for 2025 is $1.5 million. Romero’s is $1.9 million, Nootbaar’s is $2.5 million, Donovan’s is $3.6 million and Pallante’s is $2.3 million.

Of that group, it’s Pallante who likely did the most to bolster his arbitration case this winter. On top of finishing with enough service time to qualify as a Super Two, he also made 20 effective starts and went from a potential depth bullpen piece to a starter on whom the Cardinals will rely for a significant contribution next season and moving forward. The value of that achievement – and of the associated innings – is reflected in his relatively high projection in the first of what is set to be four years in the arbitration system.

After the earlier roster moves this week to add four prospects to the 40-player roster, the Cardinals have two current vacancies. Other spots are sure to open this winter through natural attrition of adding free agents or making trades of players from that group.