The St. Louis Cardinals are said to be on the verge of signing catcher Yadier Molina to a five-year contract extension. The contract's supposed to be worth something around $70 - $75 million, and while Yadier Molina isn't Albert Pujols, he is a guy that Cardinals fans will be happy to see sticking around. Molina's one of the better all-around backstops in the world.
Cameron: Yadier Molina Contract Not A Discount
At FanGraphs, Dave Cameron tackles the issue of how Molina might age, and whether this is a good deal:
I understand the desire to show the fan base that Molina wouldn’t be the next Pujols, and that the team was still intent on keeping the team’s best players from walking away via free agency, but at this price, perhaps the Cardinals could have just waited another 12 months before committing top dollar to a defensive specialist. Molina may very well be worth the money, but the Cardinals had to pay a premium price to lock up their star catcher, and if his bat regresses in 2012, they may regret not waiting for his value to drop slightly before committing to him long term.
Maybe that’s too negative an excerpt. Cameron isn’t way down on this deal - he just finds the timing to be curious, given the supposed cost. But an issue is nailing down how valuable Molina really is. Catchers still give analysts all kinds of trouble given how much of their game is difficult to measure, and Molina seems like he’s good at the things we have a hard time measuring.
Cameron thinks Molina is very good, and should age somewhat gracefully. From the Cardinals’ perspective, this shouldn’t be a disaster. The circumstances are just a little curious is all.
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