Yadier Molina is not joining Cardinals' coaching staff in a full-time role for 2024

Recent reports have indicated that former Cardinals' catcher Yadier Molina will not be joining the St. Louis Cardinals' coaching staff in a full-time role in 2024. Rather, he will be an advisor for the team from time to time, and he will make appearances during Spring Training in Florida and throughout the regular season.

Reports surfaced that Molina would be interested in joining the coaching staff for 2024 back in October. While a specific role was never stated, Molina's presence on the team in any capacity would have been beneficial for the Cardinals' 2024 aspirations. As the offseason progressed, more and more reports started indicating that the team and Molina were getting closer to finding a role for him.

However, in a tweet posted by Enrique Rojas from ESPN, Molina said that he "abandoned the idea of being a full-time coach in 2024 due to family matters". Molina spent most of his offseasons as a player at his home in the Dominican Republic. In 2022, Molina was also placed on leave for a couple of games to watch his professional basketball team play in the championship.

With the addition of Daniel Descalso as the Cardinals' 2024 bench coach, Oli Marmol's coaching staff appears to be getting filled out. Yadier Molina's experience, particularly for a young catcher in Ivan Herrera, would have been great to have full-time on the team. Hopefully, this trial period for Molina as a coach will allow him to have an impact on Herrera for the future.

The benefits of Yadier Molina being a coach in any capacity in 2024 would have been huge for the Cardinals. His experience, his charisma, and his personality would have charged the clubhouse next year. Molina would have been able to help Contreras game plan and get familiar with the pitching staff. Additionally, Molina would have been able to provide one-on-one help with Ivan Herrera, something that Herrera cherished in 2022.

While Molina's absence from the coaching staff full-time next year is noteworthy, the fact that he will be an advisor is still reassuring. This shows he has an interest in coaching for the Cardinals, and the Cardinals maintaining a relationship with their future Hall of Famer is ideal. This way, other teams who would be interested in his services will have a harder time poaching him from St. Louis.

There is still a strong possibility that Yadier Molina will join the coaching staff in 2025, and should things go sideways with the Cardinals again this year, Molina's phone may be ringing a bit earlier than he anticipated.