You were a Cardinal Great
I will always remember Willson Contreras fondly as a Cardinal. He was a total pro when it comes to putting up with the Cardinals organizational moves and their handling of his catching and subsequent move to first base. Which he excelled at. His personality was too much for some fans, but he was a true competitor and team leader in his own way. Sure he was slightly unpredictable and lost too much to e due to injuries, but that is part of the downside of his ferocious style of baseball. I think most fans will miss his spirit and competitiveness, which also made watching baseball more entertaining if you are into ridiculous baseball players.
He was, in my opinion, classy about it. He wasn’t as mean spirited as many characters that have played hardball throughout the ages, but he certainly rubbed some people the wrong way. When I watched however, it made me glad he was able to have his own style of play. And he was actually really good, once you got down to it.
He was never as bad of a defensive catcher as portrayed, and he was rather offensive at the plate, hacking away and trying to get a hit. And he could hit the ball hard.
His 2024 season will make some of us wonder what would’ve been if he didn’t miss nearly half the season and if he was surrounded by a little better team. It was probably his peak season if you extrapolate out to 29 home runs and the highest wOBA and wRC+ of his career including his time with the Cubs. If he tops that we will miss him even more.
Willson converted himself to one of the best first basemen in MLB last year: 11th best in fWAR and wRC+ (tied with Alec Burleson at 124!). When bragging about his defense after he made the conversion, he was bettered by only Matt Olson and Lenny Sosa in 2025 according to fangraphs. So by switching to Burly, we probably aren’t going to miss much hitting-wise, but our defense will worsen somewhat… To what extent it’ll be noticeable at first base we will have to wait and see.
On offense one big difference will probably be that Burly won’t strike out nearly as much as Willson. It is quite possible Burleson will have a better year at the plate than Contreras. And maybe most importantly, one of Burleson or Contreras had to be traded in this rebuild phase. This prevents Alec Burleson the outfielder from happening for the most part.
The bat tape chewing incident and the box of candy throwing fit will be entertaining memories of the competitive and sometimes dominant at bats by Contreras. He will be remembered fondly by many Cardinals fans, and I wish him well even if it’s the Red Sox he’s playing for now. Willson is an asset to any team, a true team player and competitor.
I am turning 50 today and am meeting up with a few friends and family, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all you reading out there. Please talk amongst yrselves you elves and reindeer and other characters 🦌🎄