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The Cardinals agreed to a one-year, $ 10 million contract extension with Yadier Molina, reports Athletic’s Katie Woo (Twitter link). The deal will retain the ten-time All-Star in St. Louis for the 2022 season.
It’s no surprise the two sides were able to strike a deal, as they were known to be in extension talks last week. Molina was believed to be looking for a one-year deal that matches or exceeds the $ 9 million salary he is playing the 2021 campaign on, and he managed to land exactly that. Molina only signed the deal last January, and he had expressed his desire to avoid dwelling on the free agent market again this time around.
Molina is no longer the MVP-caliber player he was in his prime, but he’s still a productive regular receiver even at 39. This season he’s hit .259 / .304 / .376 with eight home runs out of 365 home plate appearances, not far from the .268 / .310 / .388 slash he compiled between 2019-20. It’s a below average offensive production overall, but it’s still a good job considering the players’ record. The backstops have compiled just a .228 / .307 / .391 mark around the league this season. Molina’s offensive production is almost on par with the league average in this position.
That’s ignoring his contributions from the other side of the ball. Molina is considered perhaps the best defensive receiver of his generation. As is the case with his bat, Molina’s glove has gone down a bit with age, but there is definitely a plus behind the dish. Molina has eliminated seventeen of forty basic steal attempts this season, a rate of 42.5% which is far better than the league average of 24.4%.
Aside from neutralizing the running game, Molina has a reputation for being one of the best in the game at aspects of catching that are difficult or impossible to quantify. His once elite framing metrics have fallen to about the league average, but he still registers as a viable receiver. And the Cardinals undoubtedly believe that Molina brings intangible leadership value to the pitching staff and the clubhouse.
Molina is still expected to bring a lot to the table next season, but it’s also evident that his legacy as one of the best players in franchise history plays into the front office’s eagerness to hold him to the table. free market gap. No active MLB player has been on his current squad longer than Molina, who made his St. Louis debut in June 2004. The nine-time Gold Glove award winner was an integral part of the World Series Cardinals squads. 2006 and 2011. There are plenty of reasons the team wouldn’t want to risk a repeat of the last offseason standoff. Molina has suggested that 2022 could be her last season; If that turns out to be the case, today’s expansion focus would cement her status as a rare single-franchise star.
With Molina wrapped up, the Cardinals should look to Adam wainwright, another impending free agent who has been in Saint-Louis for ages. Wainwright made his debut in 2005 and has led the St. Louis rotation for much of the past fifteen years. Despite turning 40 this month, Wainwright has been one of the National League’s top pitchers this season. Assuming he wanted to continue playing beyond this year, the Cardinals would have every reason to seek an overtime with Wainwright as well.
Molina’s extension will push the Cardinals’ estimated payroll in 2022 to just north of $ 90 million, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts. Nolan Arenado ($ 35 billion if he does not retire at the end of this season), Paul Goldschmidt ($ 25.33 billion), Miles Mikolas ($ 17 million) and Paul DeJong ($ 6.17 million) join Molina as players with notable guaranteed contracts on the books, while St. Louis will also have to cover arbitrage increases for Jack Flaherty, Harrison bader, Alex reyes, Dakota hudson, and Tyler o’neill, among others. St. Louis accounts for just over $ 70 million of this season’s $ 163 million opening season payroll.
St. Louis could look to tackle rotation and the central infield this winter. Seeker, where Andrew Knizner struggled in limited action as Molina’s understudy, would have been a question mark in the unlikely event that Molina went elsewhere. It looks like the Cardinals are set to ride again with a Molina-Knizner couple next season, and the best prospect Ivan Herrera could be brought in mid-season with a view to 2023. The lion’s share of playing time behind plate at Busch Stadium is expected to go to Molina, as she has done for the past 16 years.
More soon.
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