This story was excerpted from John Denton’s Cardinals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

So far this offseason, the Cardinals have stuck to their plan of shedding payroll while creating more opportunities for their young core of players.

However, as Thursday’s 12 p.m. CT deadline for arbitration-eligible players to sign with their team proved, the Cards will have to grow their payroll over the coming weeks to secure some of their top young talent.

Closer Ryan Helsley agreed to an $8.2 million deal for 2025, sources told MLB.com, assuring him a $4.4 million raise from 2024. The Cardinals also agreed to 2025 deals with lefty relief pitchers JoJo Romero and John King before the deadline.

Infielder/outfielder Brendan Donovan, left fielder Lars Nootbaar and reliever-turned-starter Andre Pallante did not reach salary agreements with the Cards, meaning they could each be headed for an arbitration hearing in the coming weeks if the two sides can’t agree on a contract before the proceedings.

Helsley, 30, authored the finest season by a reliever in Cards history when he saved a club-record 49 games and was easily the team’s MVP in 2024. That performance, which also included 3.0 Wins Above Replacement, earned the All-MLB First Team reliever the hefty raise over the $3.8 million he earned in 2024. He will be a free agent in 2026 and hopes another strong season will net him a $100 million contract like the ones signed by star closers Josh Hader and Edwin Díaz in recent years.

This past season, Helsley perfectly executed a plan formulated by manager Oliver Marmol and pitching coach Dusty Blake in Spring Training to pitch primarily ninth innings to hopefully make him available for more games. Consequently, Helsley upped his appearances to 65 games in 2024.

Donovan, who turns 28 in a week, figures to be a key piece of the Cardinals in 2025 after leading the team (among those who played a full season) in batting average (.278), on-base percentage (.342) and OPS (.759) in 2024, while ranking second in slugging (.417). He did all of that while playing four defensive positions and earning a finalist nod for the National League’s utility Gold Glove – an award he won in 2022 as a rookie. The Cards did not approach Donovan about a multiyear deal before Thursday’s deadline, a source told MLB.

Nootbaar, who had an injury-marred 2023 season, was limited to just 109 games in 2024 because of wrist and oblique injuries. He slashed .244/.342/.417 with 12 home runs and 45 RBIs – numbers he hopes to improve in 2025 when he will likely hit in the middle of the order for the rebuilding Cards. Nootbaar had a career-best .788 OPS with 14 homers in 108 games in 2022, but he’s been unable to match that production the past two years largely because of injuries.

After spending his first two-plus seasons in the big leagues as a reliever, Pallante was optioned to Triple-A Memphis on April 21, 2024, where he was instructed to work on becoming a starting pitcher. After returning to the Cardinals on May 26, Pallante made 20 starts and went 8-7 with a 3.56 ERA. He shut out the Reds over six innings in his first start of 2024 and allowed three earned runs or less in 15 of his 20 starts. In those 15 outings, Pallante pitched to a 1.97 ERA.

Dominant against left-handed hitters early in his career, Pallante was tasked with developing a four-seam fastball that would make him better equipped against righties. As a result of his improvements, Pallante ranked in baseball’s 98th percentile in ground-ball rate (61.6 percent) and barrel rate (3.3 percent) and in the 84th percentile in average exit velocity (87.4 mph).

Pallante, categorized as a “Super Two” arbitration candidate, is projected to make $1.8 million in 2025, per Spotrac.com.

With Pallante in the starting rotation, King took over the role of relief specialist who specializes in getting ground balls. King, who was 3-3 with a 2.85 ERA over 56 appearances, ranked in baseball’s 98th percentile in ground-ball rate (61.5 percent). He also ranked in MLB’s 87th percentile in walk rate (5.6 percent), while also thriving in chase rate and barrel rate (79th percentile).

Romero posted career highs in appearances (65), wins (seven) and innings pitched (59) in 2024. In addition to holding left-handed hitters to a .181 average, Romero finished eighth in MLB in holds (30).

In addition to their arbitration agreements, the Cardinals added some potential depth to their bullpen on Thursday by claiming left-handed reliever Bailey Horn off waivers from the Tigers after he had been designated for assignment earlier this offseason.

Horn, 26, made his MLB debut with the Red Sox last June 29 and went 1-1 with a 6.50 ERA in 18 innings over 18 appearances during the 2024 season. Horn was released by the Red Sox on Nov. 22 and claimed by the Tigers. A month later, he was designated for assignment.

Horn, an Auburn University product, was a fifth-round pick in the 2020 MLB Draft by the White Sox. He pitched in the Minor Leagues for four seasons, going 15-12 with a 4.26 ERA in 129 games (15 starts) from 2021-24.