Willson Contreras Joining Cardinals on 5-Year, $87.5M Deal

According to Jon Morosi, the Cardinals have reached an agreement with Willson Contreras on a five-year deal. Jesse Rogers added that it’s for $87.5 million ($17.5M AAV). If you’ll excuse me, I need to step away for a bit because I just threw up in my mouth.

Willson Contreras in agreement with the Cardinals, 5 yrs, $87.5 mil, sources tell ESPN

— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) December 7, 2022

I suppose we can take a little solace in knowing that the Cardinals will forfeit a draft pick as a penalty for signing Contreras. They didn’t get a competitive balance pick this year either, plus the Cubs will get a comp pick as a result of losing a player who rejected a QO.

Now that the Cardinals finally have the best catcher in the NL Central, it’s time for the Cubs to trade for Sean Murphy and tip the scales back in their favor. Or they can just get busy and make some huge moves so we can have something to make us feel better about this.

Oh, and mark you calendars for May 8, 2023, because that’s when Contreras and the Cardinals head to Wrigley for the first time next season.