Is there an extension candidate on Cards?

The Cardinals were an extension happy team before the pandemic. Paul Goldschmidt, Matt Carpenter, Carlos Martinez, Kolten Wong, Paul DeJong and Yadier Molina all got extensions. They are going to announce a starting pitching extension in spring training. The team needs to replace four players from the 2022 rotation. The most popular extension is year away from free agency. It's possible they've turned away because of the Pandemic, or maybe they didn't. Now that the money is flowing, they will give more extensions again.

Mikolas has already signed an extension. He will be entering free agency at 35-years-old. Steamer has him for 2.1 WAR in 191 innings. ZiPS has a better projection. Jordan Montgomery will probably need five years to get it done. He's valued at 2,5 WAR by Steame and $63 million by Zips. His 2026 value is 0.9 WAR. A 3 year deal comes out to 3 years, $44. 1 million. Chris Bassitt signed a 3-year,$63M contract. Unlike Mikolas, he's worth over $100 million, so he might not sign.

Brendan Donovan is the only player who fits the Paul DeJong model. Dylan Carlson is not a good fit for the Cardinals. Lars Nootbaar has proven himself, but not completely. His grandfather was a major donor to the USC Hall of Fame building. He can afford to bet on himself. He might want to jump on the guaranteed money.

Tommy Edman is a good player, but he's not going to have a better season than 5.6 fWAR season. He's similar to Kolten Wong, who's in the third year of a 3 year, $26 million contract. Edmen is going for $46 million guaranteed with two club options. Ryan Helsley is not a serious candidate. Ryan is also not on a long-term reliever contract, so he doesn't count. Tommy Edmann's contract is similar with his arbitration years. His contract would be worth $49 million per year. It would include two buyout years, which would make it worth more than $18 million.