The article title may upset some of you who feel that Willson Contreras has been treated exactly as he should. I will say that I am probably one of the biggest Contreras and supporters of him on the Cardinals, but it was not always that way.
As a Cardinals fan in the Chicagoland area, anything the Cubs did was upsetting for me until I really got the chance to be a part of baseball at a higher level. I grew up with the now “old head” way of thinking: choke up with two strikes, sprint on and off the field,
don’t watch your hits, etc. but after playing in college and through the independent levels, I happily altered those thoughts. The game is hard. Celebrate your victories (within reason), become a brand, find the approach that works for your talents.
That is when I really made my shift towards appreciating Contreras. He always played with energy, swung hard, threw hard, hustled, and would be vocal about his frustrations or desires. The way he went about that game was so different from the Cardinal Way I grew up with and expected from baseball, but now I think he’s the best person to get the organization away from that antiquated way of thinking. Of course, Paul Goldschmidt and Brendan Donovan-types of the silent leaders or guys who do things the right way is great, but with a young clubhouse and a change in the way the game is played and marketed, Contreras’ fire is exactly what the team needs for their next era.
When Yadier Molina retired, it synched up perfectly with Contreras reaching free agency and I was front of the line hoping he could make his way to St. Louis, especially after he made it clear he wanted to follow in Yadi’s legacy. Now, the defensive legacy was always going to be impossible for whoever was next, but the Cardinals’ miserable pitching performance in 2022 was comically blamed on their new backstop. After that, it was announced that Contreras would DH or play the outfield (which never happened but I was excited about the premise). It was at this point I really started to like Contreras even more.
Even with the outrageous claims about his catching ability (yes I know he was below average in catching metrics, but not unplayable), he never once threw his pitchers under the bus. With someone as competitive as Contreras, I’m sure he wanted to defend himself but it always came back to “doing whatever is best for the team” and his first season had to be considered a success as he put up his best offensive season since 2019 despite all the drama.
He still caught in 2024 but broke his forearm in the middle of a 3.0 bWAR season and at that point, the Cardinals made the choice that they would not bring Goldy back next season and Contreras would move to the cold corner full-time. There was concern that the team would miss Goldschmidt’s glove at first while moving a player not known for defense and taking on a new position to that spot. However, among qualified first basemen, Contreras finished 5th in the NL in DRS and was rated as a +4 by Baseball Savant’s defensive value metric.
Beyond the baseball, Contreras has been the fire that the boring Cardinals have needed. And his fire was different from that of Arenado, who when upset, nobody would want to get anywhere near him. Contreras, though, used that emotion for more energy and to lead the young ball club that has a potential face of the franchise in Masyn Winn and an outgoing supporting cast of guys like Victor Scott, Ivan Herrera, Liam Doyle, and other energetic youngsters. While Contreras crowds the entire inside half of the plate, he was still upset with getting hit by pitches as much as he did. It was not so much the amount of HBPs, but also the fact that his own pitchers would not come to his defense. Now, how much defense could 92mph fastballs from the starting pitchers be for Contreras?
By and large, I wanted to use my weekly spot to give my public flowers to Willson Contreras more than I already have on Twitter (thanks for the 20 homers, Willson – Sincerely, Scott’s betting accounts). I appreciate his ability to stay true to what he is as a baseball player and not conform to the traditionalist way of thinking that not only results in bad baseball, but also boring baseball that makes fans not want to tune in. To put it nicely, I’d rather watch Contreras struggle for a season and be emotional about it than see Goldschmidt swing and miss at a center cut fastball and just go about his business.
Finally, don’t trade him. Happy Sunday everyone!
ETA: I intentionally left this without many stats or arguments due to keeping it an emotional piece rather than analytical. But I did want to include my reasoning for not trading him.
- Leadership in a vocal way
- Affordable (two years, $36.5 million left, club option for 3rd year)
- Not “blocking” anyone. Maybe Burleson but he’s fine as DH for now until Herrera can’t catch/Walker flounders
- Leads team in power stats. Not that difficult to do but after him, who else besides Herrera/Gorm/Burly?
- No trade clause. Already said he’s open but probably not.
- I have his shirt
