ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The St. Louis Cardinals have finalized a one-year deal with franchise icon Yadier Molina.
The team confirmed the deal in a Tweet, Monday night, saying they will have more details on Tuesday:
Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Radio.com Sports insider Jon Heyman report the deal is worth $9 million and does not include an option for 2022.
Molina posted on Instagram Monday night saying "I'm back," with a video of highlights from his Cardinals career:
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Last month, it was reported that Molina wouldn't agree on a deal with St. Louis until he was done playing for Puerto Rico in the Carribbean Series this week. In the tournament's championship game Sunday, Molina batted third and played catcher. His team lost 4-1 to Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez and the Dominican Republic.
The Cardinals have not yet made public comment on the reported agreement.
The move not only reunites Cardinals fans with its beloved catcher of nearly two decades but also brings back a historic Cardinals battery. Molina and Adam Wainwright will be teammates for the 17th year in a row, dating back to the 2005 season.
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Wainwright signed a one-year deal with St. Louis last month and the 39-year-old will match Bob Gibson for for the 2nd-most seasons as a pitcher in a Redbirds uniform, at 17.
Molina and Wainwright have been the battery together more than any duo in Cardinals history and they are sixth all-time in baseball history, at 274 games. If they start in 10 more games together, they'll move into solo fourth place on the all-time list.
Molina will likely continue to climb the Cardinals franchise record books. He's currently top-10 in team history for WAR (10th), games played (3rd), hits (6th), home runs (10th), doubles (4th), RBI (7th) and sacrifice flies (1st).
Molina, 38, has been the face of the franchise for the better part of the last decade.
This offseason, when he became a free agent, it was the first time since 2000 that the sure Hall of Fame catcher was not part of the Cardinals organization. He was rumored to have interest from at least half of dozen teams.
The Puerto Rico native was drafted in 2000 by St. Louis and since his MLB debut in 2004, has become known as one of the best defensive catchers in baseball history. His nine Gold Gloves are third most for any catcher, behind only Johnny Bench (10) and Ivan Rodriguez (13).
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