St. Louis Cardinals: The potential dilemma at catcher

The St. Louis Cardinals will soon have to decide on the future for their catching position. 

If someone polled a number of baseball fans from the street at random and asked the first name that came to mind when thinking about the St. Louis Cardinals, the answer would likely be Yadier Molina. His greatness is well known amongst fans of the team and often the cause of disdain for the opposition.

Molina has been the face of the franchise for years, certainly since Albert Pujols departed as a free agent after the 2011 World Series title, and some might even say before that. His current contract is set to expire at the end of this season, sparking discussion about his future.

Let us consider for a moment a Cardinals team without #4 behind the dish. It’s hard to imagine, isn’t it? For what it is worth, it is the opinion here that Molina stays with the Cardinals for as long as he wants to play baseball. That brings up the next important topic which is the future of Andrew Knizner.

Knizner might be major league ready, in fact, he most likely is. The same was said for Carson Kelly before he was dealt in the trade package for Paul Goldschmidt. With Molina possibly sticking around to play another two or more years, the future for Knizner becomes increasingly muddied.

Further complicating this issue is the fact that the Cardinals currently have another promising young catcher in the minor leagues named Ivan Herrera. In the event that Molina plays for a few more years, his retirement would potentially sync up with the arrival of the 20-year-old Herrera.

Where does Andrew Knizner fit into this puzzle? Matt Wieters has shown he can be a great backup catcher so Knizner would likely not be in the plans for a potential 2020 season. The outlook for Knizner is one that requires a longer-term view. Is he the future for the team at the catching position, maybe as early as 2021?

There are a few different scenarios. The most likely scenario in my opinion is one in which Yadier Molina plays beyond 2020 with the St. Louis Cardinals. Wieters should be looked at as a potential option to stick around as the backup catcher. Herrera continues to develop. Knizner becomes the odd man out and goes the Carson Kelly route, which is departing via trade.

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As a fan of Knizner, I would like to see him stay with the team and possibly be the future at the catcher position. Sadly though, it seems like his opportunities are being trimmed. At AAA for all of 2019, Knizner hit .276 with a .357 OBP and .821 OPS. He really has nothing to prove in the minor leagues anymore yet he’s not going to play over a likely future Hall of Famer.

In a hypothetical scenario, Knizner would appear to be an attractive trade chip. Maybe he could be an asset in a potential Nolan Arenado blockbuster trade if those talks were to be rekindled in the coming months.

The St. Louis Cardinals have a catching dilemma. That is not necessarily a bad thing at all. A lot of teams would enjoy the luxury of having multiple major league ready catchers. Soon the Cardinals will have to decide if Yadier Molina is going to stay beyond 2020, and by my estimation, that’s a near certainty. The focus then turns to Knizner and what his role with the team would be.

Carson Kelly was supposed to be the Cardinals’ future at the catcher position. That label was next handed to Andrew Knizner. Soon, Ivan Herrera might be knocking on the door. The one constant is Yadier Molina, who does not seem eager to hand over the reins just yet.

Regardless of where the Cardinals turn in the near and long term, it is safe to say that they seem to have the position of catcher in good hands.