Veteran Catcher Yadier Molina Staying In St. Louis, Inks One-Year Deal Worth $9 Million

Free agent catcher Yadier Molina is staying put, as late Monday night the 38-year-old and the St. Louis Cardinals agreed on a one-year deal.

The move is not much of a surprise. Molina has been a member of the Cardinals organization for the last 17 seasons since his rookie year in 2004.

The St. Louis Post Dispatch reports that the one-year deal is worth $9 million and does not include an option.

Molina is a nine-time Gold Glove Award winner and last season collected his 2000th career hit, making him an interesting candidate for the Baseball Hall of Fame when he eventually retires.

Overall Molina needs just 37 games at catcher to move ahead of Jason Kendall into the top five all-time, and with 68 games at catcher he will move ahead of Hall of Famer Gary Carter and into fourth all-time. Molina needs 68 RBIs to reach 1,000.

It's been a busy week-plus for the Cardinals, who made a huge deal with the Colorado Rockies to obtain third basemen Nolan Arenado. The team also got a deal with veteran pitcher Adam Wainwright done.

While playing somewhere else was an option for Molina, it always appeared he was going to stay put in St. Louis.

Early on in free agency, there were rumors that the Yankees, Mets, Phillies and Angels had interest in signing Molina, but those talks never really got anywhere once it became apparent that he was set to stay with the Cardinals.