Cardinals extend Molina

[reillymcshane]

That's because they have drafted well and developed their team in an efficient and effective manner.

This is simply not true. They have won because they spent a lot of resources - both money and prospects - in acquiring and retaining talent, and because they got lucky in a couple of acquisitions and lucky in that those players they invested heavily in stayed healthy.

 

Look at the star players. Only two were drafted - Molina and Matt Carpenter. The rest were acquired via trades or free agents.

 

Molina - 4th round draft pick (Brewers drafted Lucroy in the 3rd round), paid him $81M career to date and owe him an additional $74M, combined $155M committed to him

Matt. Carpenter - 13th round draft pick

Carlos Martinez - originally signed by Boston as an amateur free agent but contract was voided, should never have been a Cardinal to begin with

Matt Holliday - acquired for two first round draft picks and a second round draft pick, given $130+M in salary

Wainwright - acquired for J.D. Drew, who was a Cardinal only because he refused to sign with Philadelphia who drafted him the year before, should never have been a Cardinal to begin with; given $130+M in salary

Fowler - given $82M in free agency

Leake - given $75M in free agency

Jh. Peralta - given $53M in free agency

Moss - traded former 1st round pick for him

Grichuk - acquired via trade

Jason Heyward - acquired for former 1st round pick (23-year-old #2-type starter)

Lackey - acquired via trade (and took on $15m/year in salary)

 

Yes, they've made a few draft picks that have had a couple of good seasons (S. Miller, Lynn, Garcia, Rosenthal, Piscotty, Wacha; four of them regressed significantly last year and one of them missed the season with injury), but they are hardly the stars of the team.

 

STL has given three players >$130M in contracts and two more players >$75M in contracts. They've traded no less than four former first round draft picks for established major league talent. Essentially they have done the exact opposite of what the people criticizing the original poster of this thread think/want the Brewers to do.

 

Not saying Briggs is right at all. Just saying that the narrative that the Cardinals have built their success on draft picks and development is not true.

I guess it's all about luck and throwing money at players.

[Invader3K]

As some have pointed out, this isn't that bad a deal for the Cardinals. Even if Molina gets hurt tomorrow and never plays an MLB game again, they can afford to eat the contract.

 

I still can't stand the guy, FWIW.

[rwa12]

I can't say I'm a huge fan of his, but he's a guy you hate if you're an opposing fan, and love if he's on your team. I met him years ago at a poker game, he's a pretty regular guy. It's worth it to the Cardinals, or they would have let him walk, as they did with Pujols.

[kalle8]

He provides magic: http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/19094865/ball-sticks-chest-protector-st-louis-cardinals-catcher-yadier-molina

 

It's the Cardinals Way?

[adambr2]

It's a Jeter deal...eat the cost for the fan base. His performance is irrelevant to the deal. STL can spend money if they need to, this won't affect them moving forward. I live in STL, there would be riots if they let Yadi walk. He's golden here.

 

Really? He personally kind of seems like a piece of trash. I mean I like Braun and all with him being a Brewer but I'm not blind to the fact that I would probably despise him if he spent the last 10 years with another organization.

 

 

I think you are blinded by fandom here. Yadier Molina is one of the most respected players in the game. I also think he isn't done yet. He has had a lot of injury issues the past couple of years but when he finally got healthy later in the year last year he was very productive. I think this is a bad deal for their team because it is clearly an overpay. I do think it is defensible if they can bring up the next C in their system and that guy can learn from Molina the next couple of years. I don't know if that player is in their system or not since I don't follow the minors all that much.

 

Probably. Piece of trash was kind of overstating things. The 'holier than thou' attitude he's adopted as a member of the Cardinals (and recently he demonstrated during the WBC) is always annoying, and I still remember him serving a suspension for spitting in an umpire's face years back.

[gregmag]

It's a Jeter deal...eat the cost for the fan base. His performance is irrelevant to the deal. STL can spend money if they need to, this won't affect them moving forward. I live in STL, there would be riots if they let Yadi walk. He's golden here.

 

Really? He personally kind of seems like a piece of trash. I mean I like Braun and all with him being a Brewer but I'm not blind to the fact that I would probably despise him if he spent the last 10 years with another organization.

I can second the testimony that people here in StL absolutely love the guy. Love him. I don't get the impression that it's based much on an assessment of his personal qualities one way or the other. People here seem to sentimentalize and adore the Cardinals, and the glow just reflects on everybody. Molina has been the most consistent cog in a winning era of Cardinals baseball; thus, St. Louis loves Molina. Plus his profile as a very baseball-smart catcher who contributes to winning beyond his frontline stats probably resonates with their whole "best (smartest) fans in baseball" delusion.

[brewcrewdue80]

Looking forward to the Series with St Louis after these 1st 5 games. Bandy and Pina, throw out Cardinal Baserunners and Molina allows stolen bases. And then the fans can realize they have 2 more years of that.

[craigharmann]

Well, I've heard from my Cardinal fan friends....Molina did nothing wrong and neither did Cecil because the umps and the Cubs didn't have the ball, Molina's gear or anything looked at. Doesn't mean that cheating may or may not have occurred. But the "Cardinal way" is the "Cardinal way" and there shall be no argument.