JUPITER, Fla. — This camp finally feels right.
The Cardinals’ cornerstone catcher is back with his baseball flock.
Equipment bag slung over his shoulder, Raiders football hat atop his head, future Hall of Famer Yadier Molina walked up the sidewalk that leads from the Roger Dean Stadium players’ parking lot, entered the clubhouse and emerged wearing Cardinals gear.
A celebration was underway.
Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak met Molina in the parking lot for a hug. Adam Wainwright’s young son, Caleb, insisted his dad take him to see his baseball uncle. When clubhouse doors closed for a team meeting, a round of applause penetrated the wall.
Safe to assume it was the team welcoming back Molina after his report date was delayed by a week?
“Accurate,” manager Oliver Marmol said with a grin.
Marmol was a Cardinals minor-league player when he first met Molina. The major-league catcher came to speak to the young guys. Now Marmol, 35, is the 39-year-old 10-time All-Star’s manager.
Molina is both a constant and a catalyst. To say he was missed last week would be an understatement of massive proportions. The Cardinals aren’t yet ready to think about Molina not being around. That’s supposed to be a next-season story, after his retirement, not a surreal this-season feeling.
His absence made camp feel foreign. His arrival? As minor-league reliever James Naile, a product of Cape Girardeau, told new Cardinals starter Steven Matz, “He kind of turned a house into a home.”
There are some concerns about how Molina’s missed week and his impacted offseason could affect his performance this season, but two things felt miles ahead in importance Monday.
First, you hope everything is OK with Molina and his loved ones as the family works through the matter that kept the catcher in Puerto Rico until now. The team was informed of the delay after the MLB lockout ended.
“Personal reasons,” is the phrase being used for now. If Molina chooses to share more eventually, that’s up to him. But those close to him insist he is physically healthy and that this was a non-baseball situation.
“It’s been tough, the last couple months,” Molina said. “But everything is right, right now. I’m happy to be back.”
Second, you could not help but notice how spirits lifted the second Molina made the hard left turn from the clubhouse door to his locker, where his uniform waited in anticipation.
His pitchers raced to offer fist-bumps and slaps on the back. His musical playlist was the one picked for backfield batting practice. His short meeting with reporters turned his corner of the clubhouse into a can of sardines, but no one minded, not even infielder Tommy Edman, who had no clear path to his own locker.
Molina said he’s going to take things slow. Monday was supposed to be an in-and-out day. He wound up staying until the early evening after a grueling workout. When asked what happened to in-and-out, he grinned and offered a shrug. Good sign.
Molina’s agent, Melvin Roman, reached out to the Cardinals after the lockout ended and players and owners could communicate again to let the team know about Molina’s situation. The Cardinals told the catcher to take time. Fingers were crossed. Finally, a sigh of relief.
“We decided to figure out everything down in Puerto Rico, and that’s what I did,” Molina said. “Everything’s good right now. I’m happy to be here.”
And he’s candid about what comes next.
Molina has been working out, he said, but he offered that he is not in his usual catching shape upon arrival. In the past, Molina arrives to spring slimmed down and gains some weight back as the season progresses. That schedule has been affected. Molina indicated he had not been taking live at-bats. He took multiple rounds Monday, not stopping until sweat dripped from the tip of his nose.
“It’s probably going to take me four or five days to start playing games, to be able to be on the field again, just because I haven’t seen pitches since last year,” Molina said. “That’s the tougher part.”
Time will tell how fast Molina gets into catching shape and tunes up his timing at the plate. How much he plays in this final season and how opportunities are split between him and Andrew Knizner are sure to be topics of much discussion and debate.
Molina has some hard work ahead of him, but he’s no stranger to that. If he was, he would not have reported to every Cardinals major-league camp since backup catcher Joe Girardi’s side strain led to more spring-training reps for Molina in 2003, which resulted in manager Tony La Russa praising the 20-year-old non-roster invitee.
“He goes about playing the game right,” La Russa told the Post-Dispatch 19 years ago this week, after Molina sprawled out near a dugout to catch a foul ball. “He’s really something.”
Still true.
“I know it’s going to be my last,” Molina said about this camp. “I’m going to try to enjoy it. Keep working hard. Try to help the team win.”
On Monday, that was the big story. That Molina was back with his Cardinals, back to work for one last go. This was a day to celebrate.
