Catcher Yadier Molina and the Cardinals have had preliminary talks about an extension, Fan Rag’s Jon Heyman reports. Cards GM John Mozeliak says that if the two sides can hammer out a deal, they would like to complete it before the start of the season, as is frequently the goal with extension talks.
Last month, MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch reported that both Molina and the Cardinals had interest in a new contract. The 34-year-old Molina is heading into the last season of the five-year, $75MM deal he signed prior to the 2013 season, although he has a $15MM mutual option or $2MM buyout for 2018.
Despite his advancing age, Molina remained productive in 2016, hitting .307/.360/.427 and receiving solid marks for his defense and framing while playing 147 games. He did miss brief periods over the course of his current deal due to a 2013 knee sprain and a 2014 torn thumb ligament, but he’s otherwise been remarkably durable, appearing in at least 136 games in three of the last four seasons. Molina’s career as a whole, of course, has been terrific, with eight Gold Gloves and seven All-Star berths.
As Heyman notes, Molina’s current deal provided a precedent for longer extensions for catchers like Russell Martin and Brian McCann. Still, it’s highly likely that a new contract for Molina would be shorter in duration than his last one. Molina would be 35 by the start of the 2018 season, and catcher aging patterns aren’t pretty (although Molina’s framing should help him in that regard, just as it did with his brother Jose).
The Cardinals also have well-regarded catching prospect Carson Kelly, and as Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted last month, Kelly’s emergence would appear to be a factor in potential Molina extension talks. Kelly appears likely to begin the 2017 season with Triple-A Memphis, but the two players could potentially both play the catcher position in coming years if the Cardinals extend Molina. Molina has also occasionally played first base in the last several seasons, and perhaps there’s a possibility he could play that position a bit more frequently as he ages.
The question is, would he be a below average first baseman AND a below average catcher down the road? Just cause he could man first doesn’t mean extending him makes more sense.
This is more of a matter of brand/fan loyalty. Yadi is arguably one of the most recognizable (and successful) catchers since the turn of the century. A few more successful campaigns on top of a healthy end to his career and he may get voted into the Hall of Fame.
That’s a good point
He is a no doubt hall of famed imo
Agreed
Great post. He doesn’t warrant a long extension but a 3 year deal doesn’t seem out of reach.
The Cardinals have often been very smart about not extending/retaining older star players (while making a decent run at it for atmospherics). It’s tough letting a home-grown hero go, but 4-5 years for a 35 year old catcher, as good as he is?
Just go one year w/ team option, if he walks…he walks. If Molina continues to catch, he is going to be a fixture on the DL and decline rapidly. They can decide to be nostalgic or make sound baseball decisions regardless of a player’s historical significance. Father time is undefeated. The Cardinals organization is at a real crossroads this season and the Reyes injury exacerbates things. The next 4-5 years are going to be largely determined by their decisions on aging veterans/injury hampered players. With what I have seen lately from that FO and field staff, I don’t think the redbird magic is going to continue in the short term.
The Cardinals are consistently in the top 5 of MLB in fWAR by players 25 and younger.
The idea of this aging core is largely exaggerated. There’s plenty of young talent to remain competitive.
Yeah the aging core isn’t really there. Molina’s replacement is waiting in the wings and they can split time, 1st-SS is relatively young, 3rd isn’t too old if you’re primarily thinking gyorko, the only person over 29 in the outfield is fowler, and the rotation is becoming younger, with reyes, weaver coming in, martinez, lynn, leake, wacha, are all younger, with wainwright being the only old one.
we’ll see if the youth pipeline continues without Lunhow (and his passwords).
the farm is solid but it’s not the monstrosity it was when they had Miller/Wacha/Rosenthal/Martinez/Wong/Adams/Taveras.
Love watching Yadi play. Here’s hoping Yadi signs a deal allowing him to finish strong with the Cards.
Yadi will be able to contribute behind the plate for 2-3 more years in a starter capacity. But he’s proving that he’s a force at the plate, he’s a leader in the clubhouse, and he will basically be a player-coach/mentor for Carson Kelly. Should sign him through his 37/38 year old season. Gives Kelly time to improve his game, but also allows the cardinals to keep their “Captain” in the clubhouse as they transition their prospects to the Big League club
Absolutely agree, and when its all said and done I’d love it if he could provide coaching help. He’s got a great baseball mind.
Sure hope Yadi gets it, I’d love to see him end his career as a Cardinal
Same here, I hope it works out
Yadi, who is one of the all-time faces of Cards baseball and will eventually be in the Hall and on the Wall, has earned the right to be a Redbird for life. Surely he will be one of our coaches and possibly manager. I would love to see him play this year, mentor next year, and spend the final couple of years as a player/coach ala Manny Mota. Mota sweetened the deal, as Yadi could, by being a pinch hitting specialist in addition to player/coach. IMO he would be worth the place on the 25 man roster as he transitions from player to coach or manager.
Of course he’s going to end his career as a Cardinal. If they didn’t resign him, he would just retire. Only reason he would even consider otherwise is if a major contender had no catching options at all I would imagine. I like Yadi and I live right next to STL, but he is on the decline. 67 stolen bases allowed last year vs 18 caught stealing. We don’t have Dave Duncan anymore and our defense isn’t great as is. Eventually we can no longer be saved by Yadi. Plus, signing him is just as much about appeasing the fanbase.
I like Yadi and think he has been a very good player and one of the better catchers for the past decade, but I don’t see how he is a HOF unless he puts up another 5 great seasons. His defense has been excellent, but he has had only 3 or 4 worthwhile offensive seasons in his entire career. Just for comparison sake, look at the two catchers below. One is Yadi and the other was a very good catcher of the last 40 years who received 9 votes and 1.7% of the vote in his first and only year on the HOF ballot. This is thru age 33 seasons for both players.
Catcher A: 1523 G, 261 HR, .314/.450/.763, 108 OPS+, 6 silver slug, 3 gold gloves, 7 all star
Catcher B: 1611 G, 108 HR, .338/.400/.738, 98 OPS+, 1 silver slug, 8 gold gloves, 7 all star
The other player wasn’t done at this point either. He added another silver slugger and all star nod while hitting an additional 63 HR and having a 96 OPS+ over 465 more games and he couldn’t even stay on the ballot. I just don’t think Yadi’s defense is enough to overcome what has been only an ok bat.