Jack Flaherty Was Penalized by Cardinals After Refusing to Agree to Their Contract Offer

The ever-confusing technicalities of MLB contracts has seen yet another emerging star done dirty by his franchise simply because... well, them's the rules. St. Louis Cardinals ace Jack Flaherty was reportedly fined $10,000 for refusing to agree to the organization's contract offer.

However, the Cards previously extended a $10,000 bonus to Flaherty for finishing fourth in NL Cy Young Award voting last season, so his fine will offset. All good, right?

Cardinals Impose a $10,000 Penalty on Ace Jack Flaherty Because He Wouldn’t Agree to Their Contract Offer https://t.co/zfnIP03s5h pic.twitter.com/B7KIUDPlA0
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) March 9, 2020

Well, Not exactly.

Ultimately, the Cards renewed the 24-year-old right-hander at their preferred price. Per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Flaherty will receive a $604,500 salary for the 2020 season. Since he's still in the pre-arbitration zone, he's fully at the mercy of the club.

This is now the second consecutive season that Flaherty and St. Louis were unable to reach a proper agreement. Luckily for him, he's entering his fourth season with the franchise; in 2021, Flaherty will enter his first of his three arbitration-eligible years.

Jack Flaherty finished fourth in the Cy Young voting last year. He is a favorite to win the Cy Young this year. He will get paid $600,000 and nobody will complain about it. But plenty will complain years from now if he's being paid $25 million a year and doesn't deliver. https://t.co/W0uWnSIZZO
— Joe Posnanski (@JPosnanski) March 8, 2020

Make no mistake about it: the MLB's system of pay is broken.

Flaherty being penalized for not having a say in what he will be paid after a season in which he finished with a 2.75 ERA, 231 strikeouts, and a 0.968 WHIP proves that.