Yadier Molina and the St. Louis Cardinals will be married up until the Earth is no more and baseball is played on an ocean moon of Saturn. Then maybe, at the age of 127,044, Molina will retire having just recorded another slightly-below-average offensive, solidly-above-average defensive season. It’s just kinda what he does, over and over again.
Well, at least for one more year:
The Cardinals have agreed to a one-year, $10 million contract extension with Yadier Molina, sources tell The Athletic.
— Katie Woo (@katiejwoo) August 24, 2021
Yadi is coming back for a 19th season!
Yadier Molina has reportedly agreed to a one-year extension with the @Cardinals, per @JonHeyman. pic.twitter.com/neabfd8go7
— MLB (@MLB) August 24, 2021
Thus the Cardinals and Molina have avoided the show they put on last offseason in his first go at free agency. Molina, who will turn 40 next July, gets a $1 million raise on his 2021 salary. I tend to think Molina does a whole lot for the Cardinals’ pitching staff that we can’t quite see in the numbers or with our eyes – just identifying stuff subtly in-game, tips in-between games, etc. – so his loss, whenever it does come, will be felt.