Report: Former Chicago Cubs' Contreras Signs with St. Louis Cardinals

Former Chicago Cubs catcher Willson Contreras is reportedly staying in the National League Central.

The Chicago Cubs are used to losing now.

They've lost a total of 172 games over the past two years. And though they've dealt away many of their biggest stars, they hadn't lost any of their former World Championship stars to free agency. 

Now hated rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, have plucked lifelong Cub Willson Contreras in free agency. According to a report from Jeff Passan of ESPN, the Cardinals and Contreras are in agreement on a five-year, $87.5 million deal.

This will keep him in the National League Central through his age-36 season. Contreras has a career .256/.349/.459 slashline, though he set a career-high 128 OPS+ during 2022. It seems like the Venezuela-native is only getting better with age.

Thankfully for the Cubs, they must only face the Cardinals 13 times in 2023, opposed to 19 as in previous years. MLB's new balanced schedule sees teams play fewer games against divisional opponents, matching up against all 29 other teams at least once throughout the season.

Though St. Louis has taken away one of the biggest pieces of the Cubs championship legacy, they'll never take away Contreras' importance to the city of Chicago.

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