Barely halfway through his five-year contract, the St. Louis Cardinals are moving catcher Willson Contreras to first base and some DH, executive John Mozeliak told reporters Wednesday at the GM meetings. The plan, Mozeliak said, was created with the goal of keeping Contreras healthy and lengthening his career, always a concern with catchers.
Contreras, 32, was signed by the Cardinals following the 2022 season to replace franchise icon Yadier Molina behind the plate. It was a five-year, $87 million pact and while there was always the chance Contreras would end the deal at first -- he was always a bat-first catcher, despite having a rocket for an arm -- this situation went off the rails pretty quickly.
Remember, it was early May in the first year of the contract that the Cardinals publicly said Contreras would be moved away from catcher. He was back to serving as the regular catcher just a few weeks later.
This past season, Contreras started 51 of his 84 games behind the plate -- he missed a large portion of the season due to injury -- and scored out very poorly in framing, though he's a good blocker and is still above average with the arm.
At the plate, Contreras hit .262/.380/.468 (136 OPS+) with 17 doubles and 15 homers in just 358 plate appearances, posting 2.9 WAR in just 84 games. As can be seen, he's very valuable with the bat, so the Cardinals will hope it plays up even more at first base. Being freed from catching duties means that's a realistic possibility.
Also, the proverbial ship had likely sailed anyway, but with Contreras shifting to first, there's no roster spot left for departing free agent Paul Goldschmidt.
With Contreras off the position, Iván Herrera and Pedro Pagés are likely to split the time behind the plate.
