The St. Louis Cardinals have been one of the MLB’s best franchises, and they don’t stop making big moves. Every offseason, the Cardinals make a considerable trade or free-agent splash, and this year was no different.
St. Louis signed one of the best catchers and former Chicago Cub, Willson Contreras, to a five-year 87.5-million-dollar deal.
What Are The Cardinals Getting?
The 30-year-old catcher spent seven seasons in Chicago, was named a three-time All-Star and was part of the 2016 World Series. Contreras was a rookie in the 2016 season, and he was a significant reason the Cubs were able to break their 108 year World Series Championship drought.
Contreras is one of the best offensive catchers in the game, and he is the guy you want on your baseball team. He has a fire under him and will stick up for his teammates and get into your face.
Contreras has enormous shoes to fill behind the plate, taking over for the retired Yadier Molina. Molina is one of the best catchers this sport has ever seen, and he finally called it a career and retired at the age of 40 after the 2022 season.
The Cardinals are coming off a 93-win season and winning the N.L. Central but not making it out of the wild card round. However, St. Louis is one of the best markets in sports, and they might be the best baseball town in America, so their team went out and made that substantial free-agent splash.
Cardinals Are Always Dealing
The Cardinals went out in the winter of 2019 and traded for an All-Star first baseman from Arizona Diamondbacks Paul Goldschmidt, who was just named the 2022 N.L MVP. Then, in the winter of 2021, the Cardinals traded for third baseman Nolan Arenado from the Colorado Rockies, who is a fantastic player.
This offseason was no different when they decided to sign the best catcher on the market, and this team should be the favorite once again to win the N.L. Central.
Contreras Choose A Rival
The Cubs and Cardinals are division rivals, So it will be interesting to see how Cubs fans welcome Contreras back to Wrigley Field this summer. I assume it should be a warm welcome when he steps up to the plate for his great seven seasons and a World Series, but after that, he should be booed every time.
He did sign with the rival, and if you saw a Red Sox sign with the Yankees, you have to be booed; it’s just the nature of the sport and rivalry.
Cardinals fans should be excited about this move; they got one of the best catchers in the game, and this team should be back to winning around 90 games again this season.
