For years, the St. Louis Cardinals have been blessed with Yadier Molina. The one who is sometimes considered the best defensive receiver of the last decades was a force.
When a club has such a receiver, it keeps him. It’s no coincidence that Buster Posey spent his career in San Francisco, but the same effort didn’t go into Madison Bumgarner.
It’s no coincidence that Martin Maldonado is so beloved in Houston, even though he really doesn’t hit well. Dusty Baker loves having him behind home plate.
It’s no coincidence that the Orioles took a huge step forward the second Adley Rutschman was called up.
And it’s no coincidence that the Cardinals chose that it was Yadier Molina who was going to be paid ten years ago… and this, even if Albert Pujols was the offensive engine.
Since Molina is gone, the club is bad. Is it only his fault? No. That said, no one is going to make me believe that there is no connection.
It will be remembered that to replace him, the Cardinals of Saint-Louis signed the receiver most different from Molina: Willson Contreras. Contreras, who has a good stick, is not good defensively.
The proof? The Cubs (the Cards’ division rivals) failed to trade him at the 2022 deadline due to his defense.
It’s a known fact: the Astros were afraid of his defense and preferred to get their hands on Christian Vazquez from Boston.
And as you may have seen yesterday, the Cardinals decided to end (in the short term, at least) the Contreras experiment behind the plate. Soon, he will be a hitter of choice and an outfielder in a club that has tried everything for a month to stir things up a bit.
This means that the Cardinals did not replace Molina, but thirty games after giving Contreras $87.5 million over five years, he is no longer a receiver.
Ouch, you say? In effect.
The Cardinals probably knew he wasn’t the best defensively speaking since they have eyes and he played in Chiago for a while. And clearly, I see a link between his defensive game and the classification of the National.
Even though the main interested party spoke to Molina recently, it didn’t help. The Cards therefore recalled a prospect (Tres Barrera) to be the club’s #2 receiver behind Andrew Knizner.
Can things change? Yes, that can change.
But right now what that means is that Contreras is a DH for a club that didn’t need to put so much money on a DH like him.
He blocks young people on the field, he ties the hands of his bosses financially and the flexibility of his manager when it comes time to make his alignment.
No, it’s not exactly ideal.
We understand better why the Cubs had made the decision to cut ties with him and we also understand why it was difficult (read impossible) to trade him at the 2022 deadline.
The association between the Cardinals and the player could be a long one. Very long.
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