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The Cardinals need to re-sign Yadier Molina, already

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It's rare for a player in any sport to spend his entire career with a single team anymore. There was a time when it sounded sacrilegious to imagine Albert Pujols in anything other than a St. Louis Cardinals uniform, but then he flew south. Eventually, it seems likely that mega stars Mike Trout and Bryce Harper will sign on with new teams - hello New York Yankees!

The Cardinals, though they let Pujols walk, have done a great job of developing and keeping their stars. The odd free-agent signing ends up complementing a solid core built from the minor leagues up. Possibly no player on the roster represents this better than Yadier Molina. He is the most indispensable player in red and white, and the Cardinals need to extend him before his recently imposed deadline.

Defense and baseball IQ

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Molina has entered a decline, suffering leg and hand injuries over the last couple seasons. In 2016, he suddenly had trouble throwing out would-be base stealers, gunning down only 21 percent, and failing to win a gold glove for the first time since 2007.

Maybe Molina has lost a step or two behind the plate, and catcher defense is nebulous at the best of times, but few catchers are as aware of what is happening in a game at all times as Molina. To illustrate, during the World Baseball Classic semi-finals against the Netherlands, Molina threw out two baserunners in one inning.

The Cardinals aren't rebuilding

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The Dexter Fowler signing alone is an indication the team isn't headed toward a hard rebuild. And while 22-year-old Carson Kelly is touted as the catcher of the future in St. Louis - and MLB.com's top catching prospect - who better to mentor him along? The Cardinals are fortunate to have Kelly, because he is presumably ready and should be able to lighten Molina's load behind the plate, preserving him down the stretch, into the playoffs, and beyond.

Even though the Chicago Cubs look poised to run away with the division, and the Cardinals don't have an overly powerful lineup or reliably healthy pitching staff, a Wild Card berth isn't out of the question. Molina, along with Fowler and Matt Carpenter, represent stability at the plate. He's still part of this core and losing him would create a hole in 2018. For all the hype around Kelly, it's more for his catching than his hitting.

Those dreaded intangibles

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Stat-heads tend to hate anything that isn't backed up by numbers, but Molina's stature within the clubhouse is important. He's been on the roster longer than anyone, debuting two seasons before Adam Wainwright made a definitive impact - he tossed just two innings in 2005. That longevity and knowledge of the roster, especially the pitching staff, is helpful.

Experience matters, and he isn't yet a liability on either side of the ball. When Molina came up, he couldn't hit a lick. He has since developed into a player who will hit close to .300 and push 10 home runs. And while it's impossible to measure clubhouse leadership, his presence would be missed. He isn't just a novelty retention. Molina is a contact machine who rarely strikes out and rarely walks. He's always putting the ball in play.

Molina should end his career with the Cardinals, and management should extend him before the season starts. While in many ways, it's akin to paying for past performance, it's all balancing out for those years when he was relatively underpaid.

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