Yadier Molina on Expiring Contract: Cardinals Are 'Only Team I Want to Play For'

St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina is 37 years old, but he is prepared to play as long as his team will have him.

"I also said that if the Cardinals want me, that's the only team I want to play for," Molina said, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "So, it's still like that too. If they want me. If they want to move apart, that's it for me."

Goold noted Molina signed a two-year, $60 million extension with the team that is set to expire following the 2020 campaign. 

"It's likely they'll explore the look of an extension that reaches through 2021 and then gives the team and Molina an option for 2022, the season when Molina will turn 40," Goold wrote.

Molina is a Cardinals institution and has been the defining player of the team for more than a decade.

Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. spoke with Goold about Molina's future:

"Well, Yadi has done some pretty remarkable things at his age. And as much as he played last year and has played through injuries the last couple of years, but we'll see. Get the lay of the land and sort of take it as it goes. I know in his mind he thinks he can play for a number of years, and that'd be great if he can."

The catcher may be past his prime, but he still managed to slash .270/.312/.399 with 10 home runs and 57 RBI in 2019. He also hit 20 home runs in 2018, which was the second-highest total of his career.

Molina has nine Gold Gloves, two World Series titles, nine All-Star nods and a Silver Slugger. He helped the Cardinals reach the playoffs 10 times and the Fall Classic four times, cementing himself as a St. Louis legend.

The place is clearly special to him, given his comments heading into the 2020 campaign.