The Cardinals are doing something peculiar. At the beginning of the offseason, John Mozeliak said that the Cardinals were going to raise payroll. An unusually blunt statement from a man known for avoiding saying anything specific. Now maybe we have different definitions of “raised” payroll or Mozeliak is playing fast and loose with accounting trickery, but the Cardinals haven’t really raised payroll meaningfully. His comments were not the sort that you say if you want to raise it by $5 million. Maybe the market changed the plans.
But here’s where it gets weird: In Willson Contreras’ recent five-year deal, it was revealed his salary for 2023 is just $10 million.