San Diego (KMOX) - The Cardinals came to the Winter Meetings in San Diego in search of a new frontline catcher and they accomplish their goal reportedly agreeing with Willson Contreras on a 5-year contract worth 87.5 million dollars. With an annual average value of 17.5 million dollars, the club appears to have gotten a pretty good value.
This is a really good signing for the club. They needed more punch in their lineup and they get it with Contreras. He has hit 117 home runs over his seven big league seasons. He has hit 20 or more home runs four times and is a three-time All-Star. While we are months away from manager Oliver Marmol filling out his first lineup card, Contreras will look just fine hitting fifth providing some protection for Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt.
Going into the meetings, it felt like A's catcher Sean Murphy fit the Cardinals the best among the catchers who were believed to be available. Some reports indicated that Oakland was simply asking for way too much in return for Murphy. Perhaps they overplayed their hand. There are still other teams interested in Murphy and it will be interesting to see what they end up getting for him. They cannot be happy that the Cardinals moved on.
Just because Contreras did not seem like the best fit does not mean that he's not a really good fit. It also provides the Cardinals some flexibility for a future move (or moves). There were players the Cardinals were willing to part with for Murphy. Those players can still be moved at some point this off-season to improve the club.
The Cardinals are a very good team that still has multiple areas where they can get better. They are confident in Tommy Edman at shortstop but if the market comes back around to them, they would be silly to not take a look. They have starting pitch depth but they could use another true top-of-the-rotation guy to better compete with the best teams in the National League. And the club still absolutely needs another bat, preferably a left-handed bat, that can create some damage.
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Those conversations have already started. Many moves that are made later in the off-season happen because of conversations that laid the groundwork at the Winter Meetings.
Mozeliak came to the meetings saying the goal was to sign a catcher. Mission accomplished. Now they can take a step back and finish putting together a roster they hope can compete at a high level next season.