It’s hard to imagine Yadier Molina not wearing a white and red Cardinals jersey. Hell, it looked strange to see him in a Puerto Rico jersey during the World Baseball Classic that implemented blue in addition to the St. Louis red and white. But the possibility of Molina moving on from the Cardinals is growing, and general manager John Mozeliak is faced with a tough proposition when it comes to his franchise catcher.
Molina isn’t a free agent…well, yet at least. He’s signed through 2017 at $14 million, and there’s a mutual option on his contract for the 2018 season at another $15 million. However, as is usually the case when discussing mutual options, one party doesn’t want to exercise that end. In this case, that appears to be Molina, according to MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch.
Langosch also talked to Molina about his impending free agency, and the catcher claimed he’s interested in exploring his market, though (naturally) he would like to stay in St. Louis.
Asked if he’s intrigued by exploring his value on the free-agent market for the first time, Molina said, “Oh yeah.”
“I would love to,” he added. “I mean, I would love to stay, but at the same time, I’m not afraid to go to free agency. I’ve still got many years in the tank, believe me. I feel great. I feel like a 20-year-old kid. Believe me, I’m not afraid to go to free agency.”
Like many players, Molina is also putting a deadline of Opening Day on extension talks, claiming he won’t talk about his long-term future with the Cardinals once the season begins.
“We have one more week to talk about it and after that I’m going to concentrate on my game,” Molina said. “Whatever they want to do, like I said, I’d love to stay here, but if they don’t want to spend money, I understand that, too. This is a business. I’m going to try and concentrate on myself.”
And there’s the part of this situation that should have Mozeliak nervous. Molina is a franchise icon. He’s been the Cardinals’ starting catcher since 2005. He was a key member of the team during their 2006 and 2011 World Championship seasons, and was also part of their 2004 and 2013 National League pennant winning clubs. He’s a seven-time National League All-Star, an eight-time Gold Glove winners, and finished in the top five in NL MVP voting in both 2012 and 2013.
To put it mildly, he’s a franchise icon, and is arguably the best catcher in the team’s long and glorious history.
But he’s also a catcher, is going to turn 35 in July, and is aiming to be one of baseball’s highest-paid catchers (which makes sense, given the absolutely dire state of the catching free agent market in recent years). St. Louis will be running a team-record payroll during the 2017 season, and already have nearly $97 million committed in 2018 to just eight players.
In baseball terms, it makes perfect sense to let Molina go. Hell, it makes almost *more* than perfect baseball sense, even after Molina played in a career-high 147 games and topped his former career-best with 581 plate appearances in 2016. His statistics bounced back last season (.307/.360/.427 with eight homers), but it wouldn’t surprise anyone if he turned in another 2015 season this year (.270/.310/.350).
The Cardinals appear to be ready, though – their #2 prospect is a catcher, Carson Kelly, who ranks at the top catching prospect in all of baseball, per MLB.com. If they let Molina walk, Kelly could (theoretically, at least) slide right in to replace him while some other team gives Molina the eye-popping multi-year deal he desires. But if that happens, Kelly struggles, and Molina thrives in 2018, Mozeliak may regret his decision.
What do I think will happen? Molina doesn’t get his extension before Opening Day. If Molina’s performance is up to par, the Cardinals will give him the qualifying offer to bounce the ball back into his court. If Molina struggles, St. Louis may try to bring him back on a cheaper, shorter-term deal. This will also effect what they end up doing with Kelly, too – he’ll turn just 23 in July (interestingly, the day after Molina turns 35), so it’s not as if the team needs to push him to the majors. But if Molina is going to be around for 2018 as well as 2017, the Cardinals should at least consider the prospect of dealing Kelly if they feel they can dramatically upgrade at another position in order to have a better possibility at contending in the future.
It’s certainly an interesting situation that the Cardinals find themselves in, and not one I am envious of.
[MLB.com]
