Players with less than three years of service time have no leverage when it comes to their salary other than the protest that requires renewal. Effervescent talent Juan Soto, of the Nationals, also could not reach an agreement with the club after his sophomore season and forced Washington to renew him this past week.

The Cardinals use a formula to set salaries, and it uses publicly available statistics, as detailed in this exclusive report from The Post-Dispatch this past week.

The formula is based on days in the majors, health, and performance, as described by Wins Above Replacement. The formula also includes a bump for awards, and Flaherty finished a few votes shy of the prescribed bonus for finishing in the top three for the Cy Young Award. According to the Cardinals' formula, provided by a source, the team's offer to Flaherty was set to be $604,450 or close to it.

He is the first player to crack $600,000 since the Cardinals adopted the use of the formula, and his increase, by percentage, over the major-league minimum would also be the highest since the formula.