Veteran All-Star catcher Yadier Molina has inked a three-year extension with the St. Louis Cardinals through the 2020 MLB season.
It was hard to believe, but the star catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals Yadier Molina completed the ninth of his 10-year contract with his team last season. Molina may be in the back-end of his prime at age 34, but we didn’t really believe that he was going to leave St. Louis any time soon.
According to FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, Molina has signed a three-year contract extension, estimated to be somewhere between $55 and $65 million. That would have Molina playing for the Cardinals through the 2020 MLB season at age 38.
Sources: Molina three-year extension with #STLCards will be between $55M and $65M.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) March 31, 2017
Molina has put together a near-Hall of Fame level career with St. Louis the last 13 seasons. He has won eight Gold Gloves behind the dish, made seven trips to the All-Star Game, earned four Platinum Gloves, won two World Series, and a Silver Slugger.
Best known for his defensive prowess, Molina has been able to handle the bat well since his mid-20s. Five times has he hit over .300. While he averages 11 home runs and 71 runs batted in a season, Molina has accumulated over 1,500 hits at the plate for St. Louis.
While that may be a bit of coin for a catcher this is certainly exiting his prime, the $55 to $65 million doesn’t look as bad if pushed out over three seasons. Molina and St. Louis had a multiple option for 2018. Now it seems that Molina won’t play for another organization before inevitably hanging up the spikes.
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Expect Molina to approach 2,000 hits in Cardinals uniform. The Cardinals could have allocated that money elsewhere, but that’s the price to pay for a perennial Gold Glover behind the plate and the on-field leader of the franchise.