Two years after Yadier Molina's retirement, and three years after acquiring Willson Contreras, one of the best catchers in the league, the Cardinals finally have their catching situation figured out. Probably.
Contreras is better off at 1st these days, and he's, at the very least, hitting a lot better and will be finishing this season with over 80 RBIs for the first time in his career. The majority of the season had Pedro Pages behind the plate, who is a very good defensive catcher despite hitting .226. But that's not your answer. Yadier Molina was able to give over mediocre offensive numbers for as long as he did because he was a rock behind the plate. And yes, eventually he did manage to have some great catching seasons. But the Cardinals, as they are now, cannot afford to have a passive catcher in their lineup, and need someone who can provide some offensive stability that the rest of the lineup has lacked all year.
Enter Ivan Herrera.
Herrera turned heads this year right off the bat when, in April, he had a 3-homer game, and got off to a .381 start after 7 games. Then he got hurt and the Cardinals had to go with Pages at the primary, who was...fine. He comes back in May, is hitting .320 in June, then gets hurt again. Since he's been back, from July on, Herrera has been one of the team's strongest hitters, and his power game has taken off. He's currently got an .832 OPS, 16 homers and 57 RBIs. I have him as my backup in fantasy, and he's been pretty handy for me honestly. If the Cardinals can start him everyday without him breaking down, that's at least a promising answer.
Now...the thing is that Herrera, due to his defensive numbers, isn't a starting catcher this year. The injuries have kept him at DH, and because of the depleted catching numbers that might be the trick going forward, especially with Pedro Pages much better back there. As much as I'd thought that this season would mean that Herrera would finally be the guy at catcher, I don't even think the Cardinals think that right now. The idea is to keep both Pages and Herrera in the lineup, with Pages keeping balls from passing and Herrera hitting as well as he has. I'd hate for the plan to be to get Herrera reps at 1st as well, because the last thing you'd want is two different Molina replacements fighting for first base, but...this may be the reality.
Honestly, any answer is a good answer for the Cardinals right now, because they still really don't have a lot to show for themselves during this transitional period. The single biggest difference maker this team has had in 2025 has been that wonderful bullpen. Even with Helsley, Maton and Matz gone, you've seen star-making performances from Kyle Leahy, Matt Swanson, Jojo Romero and Riley O'Brien. It's certainly way more promising than the rotation, who are trying to position Michael McGreevy and Matthew Liberatore to run things and it's just not sticking. Pretty much every big piece except Contreras has spent time on the IL this year, and Winn's lost for the rest of the year. Despite all of this, Oli Marmol might keep his job, because if the last couple seasons haven't gotten him fired then who knows what Mozeliak's bar is.
I think the Cardinals could eventually be in position to compete again, but it's gonna take a few more years of disorder like this one to get there. Because this just isn't the answer.
Coming Tonight: I think his season may have cemented his Hall of Fame case, which is a weird thing to say about anyone from the 2025 Angels.
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