Cardinals icon Yadier Molina saw his three-year, $60MM contract expire at season’s end, which could potentially send him into the open market for the first time in his 17-year big league career. There’s sure to be mutual interest in extending the relationship, but agent Melvin Roman tells MLB Network’s Jon Heyman that his client is seeking a two-year deal (audio link to Heyman’s Big Time Baseball Podcast with Tony Gwynn Jr.; Molina talk begins at 34:30).
Whether the Cardinals are interested in handing out a multi-year deal for Molina at this stage of his career is unclear. Though he’s a nine-time All-Star and nine-time Gold Glove winner, Molina’s bat has tailed off dramatically in recent seasons. He’s still managed to hit for a respectable average, but his already meager walk rate has begun to head south. And while his 13.5 percent strikeout rate from 2020 was still considerably lower than the league average, Molina sat around nine to ten percent in that category at his peak. This year’s 78.1 percent contact rate was far and away the lowest of his career, and his 12 percent swinging-strike rate was easily a career-high.
Overall, Molina has turned in a .268/.310/.388 slash over the past couple of seasons. It should be noted that while that translates to an 86 wRC+ — composite production that is 14 percent worse than an average hitter when weighted for home park and league — Molina’s production is right in line with the average MLB catcher in that span. In addition to being a solid bat relative to his positional peers, he also threw out a strong 31.7 percent of attempted base thieves over the past two seasons. In terms of pitch framing, both FanGraphs and Statcast consider Molina slightly above-average dating back to 2019.
It’s not the same package that Molina brought to the table at his peak — or even when he signed that three-year deal prior to the 2018 season — but it’s not as though he has completely wilted. A rather considerable pay cut in terms of annual salary still seems all but certain, whether on a one- or two year deal and whether with the Cardinals or a new team. Not long ago, talk of Molina signing anywhere other than St. Louis would have seemed outlandish, but he said in the run-up to this year’s shortened season that he intended to keep playing even if it meant signing with a new team.
For the Cardinals, the decision comes down to retaining an icon and potential Hall of Famer or turning things over to a younger option like Andrew Knizner. The 25-year-old Knizner (26 in February) has yet to produce in the big leagues but has long rated as one of the organization’s more promising farmhands. He carries a .283/.362/.453 slash through 341 Triple-A plate appearances and a near-identical OPS in a more pitcher-friendly Double-A setting.
At some point, one would imagine the Cardinals would like to see Knizner take on a larger role — even if Molina were to re-sign for a year or two. Further down the organizational pipeline is 20-year-old Ivan Herrera, who could also factor into the equation by the 2022 time frame through which Molina apparently hopes to be extended.
The Cards have some decisions to make regarding both Molina and longtime teammate Adam Wainwright, each of whom seems intent on playing another year at least. The organization must also decide on Kolten Wong’s $12.5MM option, although it’s possible they’ll look to restructure that arrangement.
Those decisions come not only against the backdrop of league-wide revenue losses stemming from the absence of fans in 2020, but at a time when the Cards have $109.75MM guaranteed to eight players and an arbitration class with some key names up for raises. It’s a tough situation for president of baseball ops John Mozeliak and general manager Mike Girsch to navigate — particularly as they look to account for the loss of righty Dakota Hudson (Tommy John surgery) and augment a lineup that produced middling results in 2020.
come to Philly
He’s exactly what Phili needs ! Especially since it’s a long shot to bring back realmuto
Why did the Phillies DFA Deivy Grullón when he was still young and had 2 options? Still trying to figure out that one.
no thank you. we need stability. I’d rather roll with knapp than overpay for a passed his prime veteran. don’t get me wrong, molina is still good, but his name alone is going to increase his price tag. if the Phillies overpay for a catcher, let it be Realmuto. otherwise go youbger and cheaper and spend the money on pitching, ss, cf.
rolling with Molina for a year as a bridge to Marchan would be a lot cheaper and helps them save on what Realmuto will cost.
How will it be cheaper? Molina wants a multiyear deal with money. He is not going to sign a cheap 1 year deal with phillies. He would stay with the cards if he is willing to sign a cheap 1 year deal. If he leaves the cards its because of money and long term deal.
Knapp would certainly be cheaper than Molina, no?
Knapp and who? he isnt starting 162.
Molina isnt getting the years or AAV that JT is.
Knapp and a cheap backup. If Marchan isn’t ready just get a backup for a year. If you’re splurging on a catcher, splurge on Realmuto.
How will it be cheaper? Considering Realmuto is going to get at least 20 per—Molina will be much cheaper. I can’t imagine anyone wants to give Molina more than 10, if that, annually.
Molina should retire a Cardinal and both sides should make sure it happens. One year guaranteed deal with a team option/buy out that rolls over each year. Cards eventually buy it out as a thank you.
If he will sign a Team Friendly Contract……Yes.
But if he’s seeking another $20 mil/yr contract…..or anything close…….Let Him WALK.
Can’t reward Greed………..
2/20 mil TOPS……
The Phillies don’t need an everyday catcher. They could find someone who’s good with a pitching staff and can hit some like Austin Romine to split duties with Andrew Knapp. The worst scenario is that they somehow acquire Gary Sanchez.
I’m neither a Cards fan, a traditionalist, or given to touchy-feely stuff, but the idea of Yadi in anything but a Cards’ uniform is yucky. And we shouldn’t, especially these days, have a yucky Yadi. Hopefully they can work it out.
Yes, I hope the Cards and Yadi can agree to a 2 year, $30 million contract.
It’s not my money. Give it to him.
It has become increasingly rare for a superstar to have played his whole career for one team. After 17 years, it would be a shame to have him spend a couple more years in a different uniform with production declining from what we remember. Hopefully the Cards can get him to agree to take it year-by-year, but to always be a Cardinal. (I’m not specifically a Cardinal fan, but I admire what the team has accomplished in recent decades and over the past 100 years!)
Tom Brady is online one and he says it isn’t that rare
I felt this way with Trevor Hoffman and the Padres. I get it from a financial standpoint but there are just some players that are meant to retire with their “only” team.
I knew Hoffman started with the Marlins, but I totally forgot – and still can’t envision- he finished with Milwaukee.
“Yucky?”
Just give him 2 years at 12-18 million (total). I doubt he’d get that on the open market. Use Knizner as the backup. If he shows promise, he’s your heir apparent. If not, you have Herrera in the wings.
Being a fan is more than just championships. Seeing generational team icons like Molina is part of it. Plus, Molina may not be in his prime, but I don’t think him being in the lineup is going to hurt the Cards’ playoff hopes next year (Carpenter is another story).
if i’m the cards i cut bait on molina, wainwright, and wong
R u serious?? What’s wong w u !?
It’s a good thing you’re not the Cards then!
Agree with Yadi. I’m sorry he’s just not that great anymore but all cards fans want to say he’s the best catcher in the game. Give him some money but tell him he has to realize that after another year he’s not gonna be the starter anymore. Give wainwright a one year deal after how well he did this year. And no don’t cut lose on Wong. The last thing we need is to find another position to fill. Currently we need a SS, CF, RF, at the very least. De Jong just ain’t it. Strikes out all the time and when he’s cold he is REALLY cold, not to mention that those stretches go on for a month or so. And then he’s good for a week making his stats look average
if it is over 8 million per year, no thank you. I appreciate everything he has done in a cards uni but at some point the cards need to stop handing out ridiculous contracts to “their” guys.
Finally, someone with a brain that is a cardinals fan that realizes that we can’t keep paying guys like this a ton of money when if we’re being honest, aren’t that valuable anymore
Molina is a Great Cardinal, but at this point league average at his position. Look at the Carpenter deal, look at what living in the past did to the Phillies when the hung on to an aging core. Time to move on and see what you have in Knizner and Herrera.
Herrera is 20. Unless he starts hitting like Mike Piazza in the minors, two more years of Yadi isn’t going to block him.
Angels! Be like your brothers!
Lol that would fit with Arte’s M.O.
*Arte Moreno signs Ken Boyer*
I can only imagine the love fest in the dugout between Molina and Pujols.
The Molina trifecta. Plus his brother, Jose, is a coach. And a Pujols reunion. It actually makes sense.
All hail Yadi.
The walk rate stat for a guy like Molina is overrated. If he walks with no one on it clogs up the path. If it’s, say, the 6th inning do you pinch run for such a valuable defensive player? If he’s at bat with runners on, I want him swinging away. A walk in that situation might set up a double play. His K rate is 13.5 which is above average so he’s getting the bat on the ball fairly well.
The Fangraphs explanation of the statistic mentions that there is no adjustment for context so I’m not sure why writers treat it as gospel.
If there’s one thing the Cardinals are largely incapable of doing, it’s moving the runner over/scoring the run from 3rd with less than 2 outs because everyone on the team strikes out 3 times a game EXCEPT Goldy and Yadi (maybe throw Wong and Edman in there). Yadi’s ability to make contact is underrated, but I think making contact period has become hugely underrated in the Three True Outcomes era.
Three outcomes baseball is killing the game
I agree. I’m not anti-analytics, but I don’t think the Three Outcomes approach is coming from a decision that it’s the “best” way to play, but that it’s the most “efficient” way to play – cost efficient. Power pitching and power hitting are more bankable skills than knowledge of the strike zone, precision pitching, making contact, etc. It’s cheap and easy to find guys who have 30+ HR power (but will hit .190 and strike out 30% of the time) or can throw 98. Because those skills provide the most impact for the dollar, those are now the ONLY skills anyone seems to want. But you can’t tell me that a team of single-hitters batting .320 wouldn’t be better than a team of Mark Reynolds – just harder to assemble.
It’s like you stole the thoughts directly from my head! If the Cardinals could figure out how to have above-average situational hitting, the lack of power would be a non-issue with their pitching and defense. That’s a really good team. I’d rather they pursue that then try to throw money at power (Springer), but they would have to commit to it and stop playing guys that can’t move people over. Brantley would be a better option in my book
Last year, batters struck out in 21.6 percent of their plate appearances, a major league record.
The Cardinals should keep him, but only if he’s being reasonable about his current value. Maybe he gets a slight bump in pay because of all his years with the team, but its not like he’s going to get huge money on the open market anyways, no reason to give him anything too big.
The Cards should try to sign him, but a bump no pay bump. He made $20M in 2020. Maybe $18M total for 2 years and even that’s high. Also, he’s got to agree to let not playing all of the time and give Knizner some playing time, so he’s ready in 2023.
The guy, regardless of age, is still a top notch catcher and better than most in MLB today. He is one of the rare players who actually earn the money. Keep him and let him groom the next Cardinal catcher. Maybe even a player-coach. He kind of is already. Like others, I would like to see him stay with one franchise until his playing days are over. Not a Stan Musial type icon, but definitely a Cardinal icon.
Aren’t we all?
As the great Bud Abbott said “PAY THE MAN!”
How about NY and teach Sanchez ALL he knows
While I would much rather have Molina than Sanchez, if Girardi couldn’t teach Sanchez then likely nobody can.
Sanchez is lazy.
He’s not lazy, he’s just not motivated and doesn’t put effort into anything he does. Let’s Let’s keep it positive here …
I’d be open to yadi in the Bronx. Have to move Sánchez and his abr salary to make room for him, but then there’s no strong offence out of the catcher position. Though, it tightens the defence up 100%
With the way Sanchez has been batting there’s no strong offense out of C anyway. Sanchez has been a mess and seems to be moving further away from figuring out MLB hitting and D.
A two year deal shouldn’t be an issue. It’s how much it will cost. If the dollars are reasonable, bring him back. Even with regression, he can serve the final year as a back up, if need be. The Cardinals do need to plan for the list Molina era. It’s amazing he’s still catching as is.
Bluff
Cards should cut bait. Those numbers are only going to get worse and he’ll be overpaid based on a name.
The idea of a player playing an entire career for one team is not that big a deal. It doesn’t tarnish a legacy.
It absolutely is a big deal with how rare it’s become. Those are the types of players that define a franchise
Keep Molina keep Wainwright pay them what they want, quit screwing around. You need them on the field they know how to handle the rookies and they’re too talented to not have in your organization. and by the way when are we going to see Jim Edmonds in the uniform in The dugout? This guy’s got so much baseball savvy it’s not even funny why is he not helping coach?!
Try him out at hitting couch. They had crazy success with MgGwire, why not give another accomplished masher a go
Yankees should consider him. They could really use a good defensive catcher capable of league average production at the plate.
Agree 100%
He should stay in St Louis. But he should only start maybe half the games.
2 years $10 mil a year.
Agreed. This would be my max.
agreed. he’s still a good player for his position but not worth breaking the bank on.
Anything more than 2 year $10M is overpaying for him and even that maybe stretching it.
Giants are going to be all over him.
Dont they have Joey Bart? They still have Buster too.
Yadi to the Yankees or Philly if they don’t re-sign Realmuto
Good teams know when to move on. He isn’t worth 20 million. Time to let someone else take over. It was a good ride but for that kind of $$$ see ya. You can’t let emotions play into the facts.
He’s not going to get $20 million from anyone. We’re not talking about the Cards getting hung with a $25 million/year contract for 5+ years. We’re talking about paying someone who’s production is probably worth $3-5 million $5-10 million, for a short term. I wouldn’t care if they overpaid him. This isn’t a Pujols situation.
Yup
Difficult decision. Hall of Famer in my book. While his statistics indicate he’s slowed considerably, there are no numbers to quantify what a top catcher means behind-the-scenes to a pitching staff. I would lean toward bringing him back. But if they don’t a perfect landing spot would be San Diego. The Padres are looking to take their next step in building a winner, and Molina could share time with and offer tutelage to Campusano/Mejia/Nola. The Padres would also have a catcher to trade, which is a good thing as quite a few teams are looking for catching help. Trade Nola to the Phillies so he can split time with Knapp and catch his brother.
Oops, Campusano arrested. Scratch that part.
I wonder if the 2 years and money isn’t THAT important. How much money is Molina really expecting if all he is demanding is 2 years? I’d be surprised if he got a contract worth $20 million.
Maybe the roll he is willing to except is the more important issue. Molina has been the main show almost since he came up. Would he be willing to take more of a back up roll and help a younger catcher get over? That might be more what the Cardinals need from him. Train up the next guy from the new generation of players coming up. If he IS willing to except a back up catcher position than I don’t see why the Cardinals wouldn’t sign him for 2 years-$13 million or whatever. Unless they sign Realmuto or another veteran then all that training stuff goes out the window maybe.
Two years at $10M per seems to make sense for both Yadi and the team. If another club want to offer him either more years or dollars, as much as I would like to see him finish his career with the Cards, the need for more power in the lineup would become a better place to spend their money.
There is no reason for the Cardinals not to re-sign Molina. Knizner is a backup at best and if Herrera is only two years away why wouldn’t you want Yadi around as a mentor?
Knizner was a top prospect in their org for a reason, nobody in that org believes he’s a backup at best. He’s got more than enough of a bat to be a full-time starter.
Kinzner playing time should be a consideration when signing Yadi to a new contract.
Show him the money. Get a deal done.
He’s still better than either Cubs catcher.
Contreras is fair at best defensively and can’t even try for a base hit
Just homers
Caratini better but no power.
Get McCann from White Sox
Solid
To flowers from Atlanta
Why not give Molina a 2-year contract. At least he produces!!! Matt Carpenter sure has not!!! The Cardinals let Carpenter start and he’s become a nonproducing liability who doesn’t know when it’s time to hang it up. At least Molina could still go out with his head held high. Carpenter can not do that anymore
Why not sign Yadi? Sign Wainwright too. Wainwright is on a discounted contract now.
If Yadi would prefer to stay with the Cardinals on a series of discounted one year contracts, I’d say sign him as long as he’s productive. The same with Wainwright.
Matt Carpenter was showing quick decline when they signed him to his worthless, high dollar, multi year contract. Obviously he’s no Yadier Molina either!!!
However—— multi year deals on aging players —- hasn’t worked well for the Cardinals over the past 5-6 years.