St. Louis

Cardinals

Kloffenstein appears to be the Cardinals’ only non-tender, as all of their arbitration-eligible players were safe. Kloffenstein is an obvious candidate to be re-signed to a minor league deal. The 24-year-old pitched one scoreless inning in his major league debut for the Cardinals last season. He had a 4.74 ERA in 17 starts for Triple-A Memphis.

Hence is arguably the highest profile prospect, especially from a fantasy persepctive, that needed to be added to a 40-man roster ahead of Tuesday’s reserve list deadline to protect him from next month’s Rule 5 Draft. the dynamic 22-year-old righty made significant strides last year in the upper minors, flashing some of the best stuff of any prospect in baseball, posting a stellar 2.71 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 109/26 K/BB ratio across 79 2/3 innings (20 starts) for Double-A Memphis. He’ll open next season on the doorstep of the majors and figures to force his way to St. Louis at some point.

Rom has been jettisoned from the Cardinals’ 40-man roster after missing all of last season recovering from arthroscopic shoulder surgery. The 24-year-old southpaw came over from the Orioles back in 2023 as part of the Jack Flaherty trade and made eight starts during the late stages of that season.

A former top prospect, Barrero spent 2024 with the Rangers’ organization, and struggled to a .188 average and .477 OPS with Triple-A Round Rock. That was over a sample of just 49 games due to injury, and the Cardinals will hope Barrero can add some solid depth up the middle for the 2025 campaign at a low cost.

It’s hard to find any arguments against that one, as Helsley was an unstoppable force in the ninth inning for the Cardinals in 2024. He secured a league-leading 49 saves while posting a 2.04 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and a 79/23 K/BB ratio across 66 1/3 innings in his 65 appearances. He also notched seven victories in his extremely impressive campaign. Helsley will find himself among the upper echelon of closers in 2025 fantasy drafts.

Arenado is still owed $74 million over the next three seasons, and the 33-year-old has seen his numbers decrease since leaving the friendly confines of Coors Field. The Cardinals would likely need to eat a significant amount of salary in order to get a quality return, but teams who need third baseman should have interest as he’s still a strong defender and capable of above-average offensive numbers.

With Paul Goldschmidt hitting free agency, the Cardinals do have a hole at first base, but the assumption from many was that Jordan Walker would be making the move to that part of the infield. It appears instead that the 32-year-old Contreras will head to the not-so-hot corner, and this likely is at least in part an effort to keep him healthy after being limited to just 84 games with injuries in 2024. Contreras has enough offensive upside to be a quality fantasy first baseman, but losing catcher eligibility would obviously be a major blow going forward.

Gomez, 28, spent last year in the Tampa Bay organization. He posted a 5.04 ERA, but did post a solid 10.9 K/9 over his 39 appearances. He’ll likely provide depth at the higher levels for St. Louis, but a good showing in the Grapefruit League could see him make the Cardinals’ bullpen to begin 2025.

Sisco returns to the fold with the Cardinals as emergency catching depth after latching on back in late August following a stint with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League. The 29-year-old backstop was one of the top catching prospects in baseball years ago, but never really was able to carve out a role at the highest level. He hasn’t appeared in the majors since back in 2021.

Naughton announced the deal on Instagram, which will keep him with the Cardinals as he continues his rehabilitation after missing all of last year recovering from flexor tendon surgery. The 28-year-old southpaw has made 37 appearances in the big leagues dating back to 2021.