It’s looking like Wainright and Molina will stay with the St. Louis Cardinals after all
Things are starting to look up for the prospect of longtime St. Louis Cardinals players Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina returning to the only big league team they’ve ever known.
The Atlanta Braves added their second starting pitcher of the off-season this week when they signed Charlie Morton to a $15 million contract for 2021 season. That’s $26 million invested in their rotation after inking Drew Smiley to a deal that will pay him $11 million next year just a week before. These moves have to make Adam Wainwright ask if the Braves, the club that drafted him and then traded him away to St. Louis when he was in the Class AA ranks has any more room in the budget for a starting pitcher.
In the meantime, rumors percolate about the Cardinals working slowly but surely toward a deal with Molina, potentially giving their receiver the two-year contract he desires. It seems the longer Molina sits on the market, the more likely he is to come back to St. Louis, not finding greener pastures elsewhere.
Talk was right after the World Series ended that Molina was seeking two years at $10 years apiece. I don’t have a problem with that as it’s half of what he made last season. Originally, I thought it might be a good idea to back-load a deal that paid Molina less in 2021 when the club is trying to hold the line on payroll thanks to COVID-19 uncertainty and the fact that Matt Carpenter, Dexter Fowler, Andrew Miller and Carlos Martinez are sucking up $60 million worth of payroll for precious little production. They’ll be gone, presumably, next year, freeing up some money to spend. But, I don’t see any way Major League Baseball is going to open the 2021 season on time as the pandemic rages on worse than ever.
If the Cardinals give Molina $10 million in each season, the might very well pay him less overall should they pay another shortened season. If I was to bet, with the vaccination expected to be in wide circulation by April, I expect the season could start sometime in mid to late may and span about 100 games. It might even be in the team’s best interest to front-load the contract, under those circumstances.
Anyway, Wainwright and Molina seemed pretty intent on playing together next season, no matter where they landed. And it seems the best chance of that happening, with the Braves fading off the options list, the best likelihood of making that happen will come at Busch Stadium.
Wainwright can continue to mentor the young St. Louis hurlers as he adds to his impressive resume and Molina could serve on year as the undisputed starter and the second as a 50-50 catcher training Andrew Knizner to be his eventual replacement. If the money makes sense, I don’t see why the Cardinals shouldn’t do it. After all, there is little denying that Molina and Wainwright were two of their best players last year. It’s not like this is some sort of charity case or something.
If nothing else, it would be nice to see two players who mean so much to Cardinals fans get to say goodbye to a ballpark full of people instead of walking out the backdoor when no one was even looking.
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Scott Wuerz is a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. The Cheap Seats blog is written from his perspective as a fan and is designed to spark discussion among fans of the Cardinals and other MLB teams. Sources supporting his views and opinions are linked. If you’re looking for Cardinals news and features, check out the BND’s Cardinals section.
