The NL Central’s free agent spending just EXPLODED, with the St. Louis Cardinals ponying up to retain their long-time starter, Adam Wainwright.
Relatively speaking, Wainwright got paid:
Wainwright’s new deal with #STLCards is believed to be for $8M. Loyal guy, and a legend in St. Louis, for good reason.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 29, 2021
Wainwright, 39, has actually been quite good for the Cardinals the last couple years after it kinda looked like things might be over for him. This year will be his 17th in the big leagues with the Cardinals. I will appreciate another year of getting to root against him, and being frustrated when he flummoxes the Cubs with his increasingly meh stuff.
His deal is probably appropriate given what starters of his caliber were getting in the market, but I guarantee you the Cardinals didn’t expect to be paying this much back when the offseason started in November.
Now it’s up to the Cardinals to finalize a deal with their other long-time legend, Yadi Molina.