Cardinals Rumors: Growing buzz that St. Louis will sign Willson Contreras

Multiple different sources are heavily linking the Cardinals to Willson Contreras

The St. Louis Cardinals pursuit of a new starting catcher remains ongoing as the Winter Meetings continue on. Oakland Athletics’ catcher Sean Murphy has been their preferred target, former Chicago Cub Willson Contreras is emerging as a top candidate to be the next Cardinals catcher.

The first and probably most knowledgeable name to connect St. Louis to Contreras is David Kaplan of ESPN Chicago and NBC Sports Chicago, who is very well connected within the Cubs organization and has grown close to Contreras over the last few years.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post linked the Cardinals heavily to Contreras earlier today, and Derrick Goold further indicated how interested St. Louis is in the services of the former Cubs catcher.

And if that wasn’t enough smoke, both manager Oli Marmol and John Mozeliak met with Contreras on Tuesday. Marmol was quoted as saying it was a good visit, and that he “likes his fire”. This growing buzz comes at a time when it sounds like Oakland’s asking price for Murphy has really grown, which may force the Cardinals to value an option like Contreras more instead.

Contreras has been linked as the catcher of the future for St. Louis for a few months now, with buzz really ramping up after publicly making comments about his interest in playing in St. Louis. Contreras has been dropping hints on social media over the last few weeks as well, further indicating his desire to play in St. Louis.