The Cardinals had gone more than a decade without renewing a contract on a young player until last spring when Tommy Pham rejected a two-year contract offer and the Cardinals unilaterally set his salary.
Earlier this spring, conversations about his upcoming contract led Jose Martinez to agree to a two-year extension that included an immediate signing bonus and a bump for 2019 in exchange for giving up a year of arbitration rights for 2020. Hicks has a full year of service time, and Flaherty has slightly less, and when they and the team could not reach consensus on a salary, the Cardinals used their renewal right.