St. Louis Cardinals would be foolish to not bring back Yadier Molina

Yadier Molina has spent his whole career as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals. His playing days should end there as well.

You would think that someone at the age of 38 that’s spent his whole life as a catcher would be tired out by now and would either retire or switch positions. That’s not Yadier Molina though. Molina is currently a free agent and is seeking to enter the 17th season of his career in 2021.

Since entering the big leagues in 2004, he’s spent his entire career with the St. Louis Cardinals. In fact, with the exception of his debut season, and of course the 2020 season, he has been the Cardinals’ primary catcher, appearing in at least 100 games each season.

In his career, he’s been to nine all-star games, won a Silver Slugger award, nine Gold Glove awards including four Platinum Glove awards and two Defensive Player of the Year awards on top of his two World Series rings.

Now Molina finds himself a free agent. Understandably, he has a desire to return to the Cardinals, the only franchise he’s known but the feeling may not be mutual.

Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak stated that the team lost a lot of money because of the COVID-19 pandemic and is on a tight budget for spending. The team has apparently made an offer to Molina but it was deemed “ridiculous” to the catcher.

Molina is looking to stay in the big leagues for the next two years. He’s looking for either a two year deal or a one year contract with an option for a second year. For the 2021 season, he’s apparently looking for $10 million for his services.

Without Molina, the Cardinals would be thin behind the plate. Andrew Knizner would take over as the starting catcher, despite having just 26 major league games under his belt. He would be backed up by Tyler Heineman who has played in six fewer games than Knizner. As it currently stands, both Cardinals catchers have combined to bat .221 in the big leagues. Molina has only had one season where he’s batted below .221, when he had a .216 batting average in 2006.

Despite being 38 years old, Molina can still be a quality option behind the plate. Last season, he slashed .262/.303/.359 with 38 hits in 42 games. In 2019, he appeared in 113 games slashing .270/.312/.399 with as many hits in as many games. He can still do well behind the plate as well, throwing out 46.4% of would-be base stealers over the past two seasons.

As he can still make contact with the ball and play solid defense, the Cardinals would be making a huge mistake to let him walk to a different team. Add in his loyalty to the organization, and how he even defended the city when Chicago Cubs star Kris Bryant called St. Louis “boring,” and it is difficult to imagine him anywhere else.

A two year, $16 million deal should work for both sides. Molina gets his two year deal and $2 million less than he was seeking while the Cardinals can still be a competitive team. Their pitching staff can continue to develop with Molina behind the plate. In that case, they can probably bring back Adam Wainwright who has also spent his whole big league career with the St. Louis Cardinals and seemingly has a good relationship with Molina.

If not, the New York Yankees, Washington Nationals, San Diego Padres, or the Los Angeles Angels would happily bring Yadier Molina onto their team.