Two pieces — fixtures, at times — of Cardinals teams dating back to 2012 will not continue their tenures in St. Louis any further. On Thursday, the Cardinals declined the 2022 options for both Matt Carpenter and Carlos Martinez, making them both free agents.
Carpenter, who will soon turn 36, debuted with the Cardinals back in 2011 and has appeared in more than 110 games each season from 2012 on (excluding the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign). Carpenter had a 6.6 WAR (Baseball Reference) and 140 OPS+ in 2013, when he finished fourth in MVP voting with a season highlighted by 55 doubles and 126 runs scored.