Legendary St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina is returning for his 18th MLB season in 2021. And he’ll do it in the same uniform.
The Cardinals confirmed on their social media on Tuesday that Molina inked a new one-year deal with the organization. The team didn’t share further details about the deal, but they’re expected to do so in the coming days.
The news represents a happy ending to a saga that plagued the Cardinals for the better part of the offseason.
After the end of the 2020 campaign, the team was non-committal to bringing back Molina. Meanwhile, Molina said he wanted to continue playing and was ready to do that somewhere else if St. Louis didn’t want him. The two sides were engaged in tough negotiations for several months after that before finding a common ground in the past few weeks.
Yadier Molina is one of the most decorated and accomplished players in Cardinals history. Since his MLB debut in 2004, Molina helped the team to two World Series wins while also earning a number of individual accolades. This includes nine All-Star nods and nine Gold Glove Awards.
Molina, who played 2,025 games in the majors, has a career batting average of .281, to go with 2,001 hits, 160 home runs, and 932 RBIs.
