Louis Cardinals have found a replacement for now-retired catcher Yadier Molina, agreeing terms with Willson Contreras above 5-year contract worth $87 million. After refusing to move Contreras by the trade deadline or pay him, the last remaining player on the Chicago Cubs World Series team will now wear the birds on the bat and the Red Cardinals.
The move is a huge boon for the Cardinals, who are happy with Molina’s post-disc offense trade-off, even though the team’s bats have run three times in two post-season games – both both lost to Philadelphia. Albert Pujols’ swan song is actually what won them NL Central, and they’ll have to replace his production, too.
Considering Contreras’ best year isn’t nearly as good as Pujols’ last campaign, another bat – preferably a DH – will go a long way. The farm system continued to put potential all-stars into the lineup, only to hit nothing but the wall when the enemy pitchers received scouting reports.
That’s another factor in this. Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt have increasingly become the team’s best-placed players since arriving in St. Louis, and it continues the trend of the farm system failing to develop consistent support players. Outside of the pandemic season, some combination of Arenado, Goldschmidt or Marcel Ozuna has become the top two of the team at RBI.
The failure of Tyler O’Neill, Dylan Carlson, Paul DeJong and others did not bring St. Louis has high hopes that Brendan Donovan and Nolan Gorman will reach their full potential.
G/O Media can receive commission
Up to 35% off
Tile item tracker
Turn on Bluetooth
Tile has several trackers for sale that use Bluetooth to pinpoint their exact location. They’re great for keys and wallets, as well as luggage tags and more.
Poor development could also be the reason for coach Jeff Albert’s resignation after the season. Well, that and Harrison Bader landed a multibillion-dollar home after the season ran after being traded to the Yankees, and Kolten Wong found some consistency in Milwaukee.
Contreras is a proven contributing player who will join a club with solid leadership at the top level and will be able to continue his form regardless of hitting the coach or not. as is the case with Arenado or Goldschmidt.
The fact that he came from the Cardinals’ most hated rival was just an added bonus. In 95 career games with St. Louis, Contreras took down 0.249/.368/.441, with 74 hits, 15 of which were hosts and 47 RBIs. Those numbers aren’t startling, but every major home game feels like five games against an obnoxious opponent.
I’d say it makes up for Jason Heyward hopping the train from St. Louis arrived in Chicago in 2016, but Jason Heyward and his contract made up for the jump ship Jason Heyward. For the Cubs, $87 million doesn’t seem like much, as they just paid $68 million for Jameson Taillon, a pitcher starting to back up in an already crowded spin.
However, Chicago landed Cody Bellinger on a one-year free demo deal and is rumored to be a mid-sized hunting game with targets set on Carlos Correa or Dansby Swanson. Who knows how the Contreras story would fall if the Cubs moved him by the deadline, as rumors have said, but a lack of action and tight pockets from the main office led to this unfortunate outcome. . They didn’t even appease potential perverts by moving him for scraps.
Contreras may have ended up in the shadow of the Arch through another club, and Chicago may have avoided sin, but here we are.
