Well. That happened.
The deadline for MLB teams to tender contracts to their arbitration-eligible and pre-arbitration players came and went on Friday evening and brought us some pretty significant news.
We’ll get to the details. First, a little explanation. What does “non-tender” mean? I’m glad you asked! MLB.com explains: “Players on the 40-man roster with fewer than six years of Major League service time must be tendered contracts each offseason by a set deadline”. That deadline was at 8 PM ET Friday. (Just late enough to make my Friday night as annoying as possible.)
The Cardinals had 9 players eligible for arbitration and more pre-arbitration eligible players than I care to count.