Cardinals news and notes: Yadi, Bowman, Lankford

Yesterday I wrote why it was worthwhile to sign Yadier Molina to an extension even though he is approaching an age when solid production from catchers is pretty rare. Well, yesterday evening word began to circulate that the Cardinals were close to signing Molina to a three-year deal worth around $55-$65 million. Ken Rosenthal was first with the news, and even though by late-evening nothing was official, Jon Heyman seemed to confirm that the deal was close to as good as done. John Fleming was on the story for VEB.

Assuming the ink on this deal is soon dry, this is great news for Molina, who will now be the highest paid catcher by average annual value, and this is great news for anyone who had a vested interest in Molina remaining a Cardinal for his entire career. That likely includes a lot of us.

Here’s what else you may have missed yesterday at VEB:

• Joe Schwarz wrote about Matt Bowman and what made him so effective last season.
• Here’s a Q&A with Cardinals prospect Ryan Helsley.
• The VEB projection results for Randal Grichuk are in.
• You’ll want to click on this - a vintage clip of Ray Lankford leading off the 1994 season (which never really ended) with a home run at old Riverfront Stadium.
• Trevor Rosenthal is starting the season on the DL with a right lat strain; Sam Tuivailala takes his spot.
• Ben Markham previews the pitchers on the other four teams in the NL Central.

That should do it, have a great weekend, everyone. And most of all - enjoy Opening Day on Sunday.