The Cardinals and long-time catcher Yadier Molina have agreed to a one-year contract extension through the 2022 season, the club announced on Tuesday. While terms of the deal were not disclosed, the one-year pact will be worth $10 million, according to Katie Woo of The Athletic. Multiple reports in recent weeks had indicated that talks between the two sides were ongoing, so the news Tuesday isn't a shock. The deal ensures Molina will stay with the Cardinals through his age-39 season, and 2022 will be his 19th MLB season.
"On behalf of the Cardinals and our fans, it gives me great pleasure to announce that Yadier Molina will continue his franchise legacy for another season in 2022," Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt said in a statement released by the team. "Yadi has continued to play at an All-Star level this season, and has already established himself among the greatest players to have ever worn the birds on the bat."
"We are pleased to announce that Yadi has agreed to cement his career legacy with the Cardinals for a final season in 2022," said Cardinals' President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak said in that same statement. "His experience, leadership, work ethic and winning desire are all part of what we value as an organization."
Mozeliak's use of the phrase "final season" strongly implies that Molina will either retire after the 2022 season or move on from the Cardinals. A real shock actually would be Molina playing for a different team at some point in his career. The 39-year-old stalwart was a fourth-round pick by the Cardinals out of Ladislao Martinez High School in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico in 2000. He then made his way, quickly, though the Cardinals' system and debuted in 2004. He's now in his 18th year with over 2,000 regular-season games with the Cardinals.
This year, Molina enjoyed an offensive renaissance early in the season, hitting .339 with a .661 slugging and five homers through his first 18 games. At the moment, he's hitting .259/.304/.376 (89 OPS+) with 16 doubles, eight homers and 51 RBI through 94 games.
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He still rates out as an above-average defensive catcher, according to most metrics and throws out would-be basestealers at a much higher rate than the league average. We can't really quantify what his leadership means to the clubhouse or how well he works with the pitching staff, but there's long been value assigned to Molina on these fronts.
The Cardinals head into Tuesday with a 63-60 record, 12 games behind the Brewers in the NL Central. They are, however, within striking range of a wild card spot, sitting 4 1/2 games back of the Reds for the second one. They start a two-game series with the Tigers on Tuesday before a four-game series in Pittsburgh against the last-place Pirates this weekend.
