JUPITER, Fla. • At the press conference to announce a new contract for catcher Yadier Molina, Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak described how "difficult" it was to determine a market value for the Gold Glove winner. Catchers are a curious sort when it comes to salary, and when compared to other positions there wasn't the obvious dollar figures that exist for, say, outfielders and No. 4 pitchers.
There is now.
Mike Napoli and others have already taken note.
The Cardinals and Molina agreed on a five-year extension to his current contract, guaranteeing the backstop $75 million from 2013 to 2017. The total guarantee of Molina's back-to-back contracts is $82 million over the next six years. With an option for 2018, the total value of the deal (including salaries and a signing bonus) could reach $95 million, according to sources familiar with the two contracts.
The big number is the one confirmed this afternoon by the Post-Dispatch -- the five-year, $75-million contract that gives Molina's deal an advertised annual average value (AAV) of $15 million from 2013 to 2017. That makes Molina the second-highest-paid catcher in baseball, behind only three-time batting champ Joe Mauer.
As outlined here in Bird Land last week, the salary at the catcher position is tricky to calculate. The position has been undervalued compared to the influence a catcher has on the game and a pitching staff. Most of the high-dollar catchers have been middle-order/power-type hitters like Mauer, former MVP Ivan Rodriguez and Napoli, who thundered through the World Series with the Texas Rangers.
Molina has only once hit more than 10 homers in a season.
His career highs for slugging and RBIs were both set last season at .465 and 65, respectively. He is particularly difficult to strike out and has proven to be a .300 hitter in the majors, but he settles mostly in the Nos. 6 or 7 spot in the lineup. His value is behind the plate -- calling a game, shepherding a pitching staff, and restricting a running game. He received a Platinum Glove from Rawlings this past year because he was voted the best defensive player in the majors regardless of position.
That seemed to be the place the Cardinals would have to go to determine his worth. They could find help at another defensive-oriented position, such as shortstop.
What would Ozzie Smith make today?
That was the question a few of us asked around the ballpark today. If, say, Rafael Furcal had an AAV of $10 million from 2009 to 2011 and was considered one of the premier defensive players at his position during that time, what does that mean for a catcher who is, respectively, better than his peers? The Cardinals and Molina's agent Melvin Roman found a way to agree on that answer, and they did so without the aid of your garden variety statistics. Even some of the defensive metrics we use around here to discuss infielders and outfielders don't do a complete job of illustrating how much a sterling catcher can influence the play of the game with his play behind the plate.
In the entry linked to above, the number of catchers who could reach free agency this coming season was discussed. Of the top 12 everyday catchers ranked by OPS (on-base-plus-slugging-percentage), five can be free agents at the end of the season. Napoli is one. Atlanta's Brian McCann, one of the most complete catchers in the game, has a $12-million option for 2013 between him and free agency. Arizona's Miguel Montero is set to reach the open market after this season. There is no better description of Molina's new deal than the reaction of others at his position.
What happened with Napoli and Montero this week?
They both ended talks on an extension with their teams. Napoli used the word "squashed" in one report.
Free agency, here they come.
"I’d love to be here (in Texas), but I’ll test the market,” Napoli told Drew Davison of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram in the wake of the Molina deal. “Every player plays to get to free agency. But it’s not something I’m going to worry about. That’s why I have my agent.”
Napoli is set to make $9.4 million this year after avoiding arbitration with the Rangers. He hit .320 with 30 homers and 75 RBIs in 2011, his first season with the Rangers.
Montero was an All-Star last season and he hit .282 with 18 homers and an .820 OPS, one of the highest among everyday catchers in the majors. Montero is also considered a strong defensive catcher, and he threw out the most would-be base stealers in the National League last season. The annual Fielder Bible Awards ranked Montero ahead of Molina at catcher for their defensive awards in 2011.
Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic reported Wednesday afternoon that talks between the Diamondbacks and Montero have been tabled.
Arizona general manager Kevin Towers told Piecoro that the two sides couldn't find "any common ground."
"Like I said, they're going to be my priority," Montero said in the Republic. "This is a business. If it's my last year, I'll have to move on. It's part of the game. I do have a lot of confidence. I've got to go out there and prove it again. I know that. I'll just take my chances. I've got plenty of confidence in me. I have to go out and play."
Those chances just got better.
The market the Cardinals couldn't identify to help establish the value of Molina's deal now exists because of the Molina deal.
It's a good time to be a catcher.
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