The St. Louis Cardinals remain among the favorites to sign Chicago Cubs All-Star catcher Willson Contreras in free agency, according to a Tuesday tweet from New York Post baseball columnist Jon Heyman.
Contreras, who helped lead the Cubs to their first World Series in over 100 years, remained a hopeful holdover on a Chicago Cubs team still searching for an identity since hosting a fire sale of its most impactful championship players in 2021. The 30-year-old catcher earned 101 hits, a career-high 65 runs and 22 home runs in 416 at-bats this season, good enough to earn another All-Star selection on a Cubs team with a below-.500 winning percentage for the second-straight year.
Willson Contreras would join a 93-win NL Central division rival in the Cardinals fresh off their third-straight loss in the Wildcard round. Contreras will have the potential to play with 27-year-old catcher Andrew Knizner if he signs with the Cardinals in free agency, who earned 56 hits and 28 runs at 260 at-bats last season as the team's starting catcher. The Cardinals sport five players who logged over 100 hits last season, including 34-year-old first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, who earned a team-leading total of 178 hits and 35 home runs on the way to sealing the team's fourth-straight trip to the MLB playoffs.
Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker showed confidence in signing the All-Star catcher to add to the team's own star-laden roster and boost yet another trip to the World Series behind his production on both sides of the ball just days after reportedly being “far apart” in free agency talks with right-handed pitcher Justin Verlander.
“Going forward, yeah, we’re going to talk to him. And we have interest in him,” Baker told NBC Sports. “And if the numbers are right and the years are right and the situation’s right, and right for both of us.
“And if not, then we’ve still got some catching depth.”
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