{"id":4675,"date":"2017-03-30T22:11:26","date_gmt":"2017-03-31T02:11:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/?p=4675"},"modified":"2017-03-30T22:11:26","modified_gmt":"2017-03-31T02:11:26","slug":"cardinals-yadier-molina-agree-contract-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2017\/03\/30\/cardinals-yadier-molina-agree-contract-extension\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardinals, Yadier Molina Agree to Contract Extension"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/molinya01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yadier Molina<\/a><\/strong> agreed to a contract extension today, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports and MLB Network. The reported contract has Molina set to make $55-65 million over the next three years with the St. Louis Cardinals, and gives him a few more seasons to cement\u00a0his legacy with the organization.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Sources: Molina three-year extension with <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/STLCards?src=hash\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#STLCards<\/a> will be between $55M and $65M.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Ken_Rosenthal\/status\/847610745344753667\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 31, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Cardinals, Yadier Molina Agree to Contract Extension<\/h2>\n<p>Molina\u2019s contract extension comes on the heels of his outstanding performance in the recent World Baseball Classic, where he led Puerto Rico to an undefeated tournament before losing in the championship to the United States. Throughout the WBC, Molina\u2019s leadership skills and defensive prowess were on full display, as he carried the team to the championship game with a new-found energy.<\/p>\n<p>Molina brought this energy with him when he rejoined the St. Louis Spring Training camp in Florida last week. He has continued his stellar play after unlocking a new youthful feel that has him ready to go for the future.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like a 20-year-old kid,\u201d said Molina, speaking to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch after his return to Spring Training. On his weeks of playing with team Puerto Rico at the WBC, he added, \u201cWhen you\u2019re a part of that team, that was an amazing feeling. The energy they bring is contagious. It was good for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Once Molina returned to camp, the Cardinals had one week before the season began to come to an agreement with the veteran catcher. Molina was entering the last year of his current contract, and was prepared to hit free agency if the two sides could not reach a deal by the season\u2019s start, an ultimatum that he provided when contract talks became serious.<\/p>\n<p>Coming off of a 2016 season highlighted by an excellent second half, in which he hit .365 and slugged .529 with 22 doubles and six home runs, Molina showed his value to the organization, while also showing he has plenty left in the tank. He may be getting older (he will turn 35 this summer), but his leadership to the young pitching staff, elite defense, and rock-solid hitting have made him a franchise player and a fan-favorite, and have proven his value time and again to the Cardinals organization.<\/p>\n<p>Molina\u2019s new contract extension will keep him in St. Louis through the 2019 season, when he will reach 37 years old. A three-year deal worth this much is little risky for the Cardinals. Though it delays <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kellyca02.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carson Kelly<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s full-time arrival as the team\u2019s catcher, it still gives Kelly the time to get ready and eventually replace Molina behind the plate. The deal reflects Molina\u2019s value to St. Louis, where he has won two World Series titles, eight Gold Glove awards, and has played in seven All-Star games. Now, he is likely set up to retire a Cardinal and establish his place in St. Louis lore.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/658053580\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.666667% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/658053580?et=AkeQ-xTZQBB3xk8Tv91-dA&amp;tld=com&amp;viewMoreLink=off&amp;sig=RrIPTtoy8CCem1K6TVyVgJR5RkCJ-El-nveeYCIpRRk=&amp;caption=true\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yadier Molina agreed to a contract extension today, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports and MLB Network. The reported contract has Molina set to make $55-65 million over the next three years with the St. Louis Cardinals, and gives him a few more seasons to cement\u00a0his legacy with the organization. Sources: Molina three-year extension [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1922,"featured_media":4678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25,1071,35],"tags":[68,69,168,522],"class_list":["post-4675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cardinals","category-mlb","category-news","tag-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-st-louis-cardinals","tag-yadier-molina"],"modified_by":"Josh Greenberg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1922"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}