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JUPITER, Fla. — A Cardinals club that looked to shed payroll over the winter is expected to get more clarity on that payroll this week as arbitration hearings for utilityman Brendan Donovan and right-hander Andre Pallante are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, with a decision on outfielder Lars Nootbaar’s arbitration hearing expected in the coming days.

Donovan, Pallante and Nootbaar are the only arbitration-eligible players with whom the Cardinals could not reach deals before the Jan. 9 deadline to exchange salary figures.

There are nine arbitration hearings in Major League Baseball this offseason; the Cardinals have a third of them.

Player comparisons, service time, games played, performances and a player’s role for his team are all factored by the arbitration system to determine a player’s salary for the upcoming season. Arbitration hearings can be avoided for players and teams who do not reach salary agreements if a multi-year deal is reached before then. Across previous years, the Cardinals have used a “file and trial” approach like many other MLB teams.

Nootbaar, 27, had his arbitration hearing last week in St. Petersburg, Florida, per a source. The 27-year-old outfielder declined to comment on the arbitration process until after a decision is announced.

Nootbaar filed for a 2025 salary of $2.95 million, while the Cardinals filed at $2.45 million.

Nootbaar entered the offseason eligible for arbitration for the first time in his career. Nootbaar batted .244 with a .342 on-base percentage and a .417 slugging percentage in 109 games. Nootbaar produced an OPS+ of 111. (An OPS+ of 100 is considered league average.) He finished the season with a 16.9% chase rate that ranked in the 100th percentile among big leaguers, per Statcast, and had 1.7 wins above replacement (WAR) after producing a 3-WAR season and playing in 117 games in 2023, per FanGraphs.

Last year, Nootbaar had the start to his season delayed by fractured ribs sustained in early March during a Grapefruit League game in spring training. He landed on the injured list at the end of May with an oblique strain that kept him sidelined for over a month.

Donovan, 28, filed for a 2025 salary of $3.3 million while the Cardinals filed at $2.85 million.

The utilityman played in a career high 153 games in 2024 and was named a Gold Glove finalist among National League left fielders. At the plate, he finished the year with a .278 batting average, a .342 on-base percentage and set career highs in doubles (34) and home runs (14) while posting a strikeout rate in the top 3% of major leaguers, per Statcast. Donovan’s 3.2 WAR was second among Cardinals position players in 2024 behind Masyn Winn’s 3.6.

Pallante entered the offseason arbitration-eligible through Super Two status as he ranked, in terms of service time, in the top 22% of players who have totaled two to three years of service in the majors.

Pallante filed at $2.1 million, and the Cardinals filed at $1.95 million.

Pallante, 26, posted a 3.78 ERA and struck out 94 batters in 121⅓ innings in 29 games — 20 of which were starts. Once he moved from the bullpen to a rotation role, Pallante went 8-7 with a 3.56 ERA in 111⅓ innings. Pallante ranked in the top 2% of big leaguers in ground-ball rate and the top 16% in average exit velocity allowed, per Statcast.

Burleson slated for 1B-DH role

Heading into his third full season in the majors, Alec Burleson is positioned to find himself in a role as mostly a first baseman and designated hitter for the Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said Monday.

“My preference, it’s a combination,” Marmol said of Burleson while at the Cardinals’ training complex here. “But health and situations always pop up and you figure out what’s best for what we currently have, right? That’s what he’s been preparing for.”

The increased playing time at first base for Burleson would come as Willson Contreras prepares to switch from catcher to first base following Paul Goldschmidt’s departure in free agency as he signed with the New York Yankees.

Since reaching the majors in September 2022, Burleson has made 26 starts at first base, 127 at the corner outfield spots and 76 as the Cardinals’ designated hitter. A season ago, Burleson started at first base 13 times while starting as a corner outfielder in 68 games.

Burleson would form part of the first base depth on the Cardinals’ 40-man roster behind Contreras and alongside Luken Baker.

Kaminsky returns to Cardinals

Former first-round pick Rob Kaminsky is back with the Cardinals for a third stint.

The 30-year-old left-hander inked a one-year minor league deal with St. Louis after spending the past three years in the Seattle Mariners system, it was announced Sunday.

Kaminsky did not appear in the majors for the Mariners. His last stint in the majors came during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, when he debuted for the Cardinals and allowed three runs (one earned) over 4⅔ innings of relief across five games.

The 28th overall pick in the 2013 MLB draft, Kaminsky reached Class High-A in 2015 while in the Cardinals system but was traded that season to the Cleveland Guardians in exchange for first baseman Brandon Moss. Kaminsky returned to the Cardinals system in 2019 on a minor league deal that included a non-roster invite to spring training. He reached free agency following the 2020 season and signed a minor league deal with the Phillies before signing with the Mariners in 2022.