Thanks in part to the injury and surgery that benched him for the rest of the baseball season, Kyle McClellan thinks he may have played his last game as a St. Louis Cardinal, according to a report from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

McClellan will be arbitration-eligible for the third time this winter, and his $2.5 million dollar salary for this season was enough to make the Cardinals entertain offers for him last year.

Going through the arbitration process again could mean that the Cards could pay more than $3 million next season for McClellan, and he told the Post he expects they’ll non-tender him.

"I know how the process works. I know they're thinking about how to protect themselves," McClellan told the Post. “"I also know that if everything goes as planned, I'll be in a position to help a team next season. If I had to have surgery, it's better to get it out of the way now."

Post reporter Joe Strauss remarked that McClellan was rather matter-of-fact about the whole thing.

“There is little edge in his voice. He acknowledges there is the possibility that the Cardinals could move to keep him,” Strauss wrote. “But the team's willingness to make him available last winter speaks louder.”

Do you think McClellan is here to stay, or will we see him wearing a different uniform next season? Share your thoughts in the comments section, below.

Read More on McClellan:

• Cardinals Pitcher Kyle McClellan: See You in 2013
• Kyle McClellan Injured
• Could Kyle McClellan Be Headed Out of St. Louis?
• Hazelwood West's McClellan Works Out a One Year Deal to Remain a Cardinal
• Kyle McClellan Among Six Honorees Being Inducted into the Hazelwood West High School Hall of Fame
• St. Louis Cardinals Invade Hazelwood

Keep up with the latest on McClellan and the Hazelwood community--sign up for our free email newsletters!