At intro to St. Louis, Contreras pinpoints moment he knew he wanted to be a Cardinal

When Cubs manager David Ross made the decision to allow rookie lefty Brandon Hughes to face Albert Pujols in the eighth inning of a tie game in the last matchup of the season between the two games, he didn’t just create the conditions for Pujols’s 695th career home run.

He also, indirectly, planted a thought in the head of one of Chicago’s core players that his future might be in the dugout across the field.

That was the moment, Willson Contreras said at Busch Stadium on Friday, when he first started imagining himself as a St. Louis Cardinal.

“I was just looking around,” he explained. “Looking around the ballpark, looking around the fan base and the team, how the guys were playing against us.

“And I said to myself, I want to be a part of something like that, of a team that’s always looking forward to win.”

The long-reported free agent deal between the parties became official Friday, with Contreras agreeing to a five-year contract with a club option for a sixth year. He toured the clubhouse and facilities (meeting teammate Andre Pallante along the way) and met with the media, where he discussed the challenge of following in Yadier Molina’s footsteps while staying true to himself.

“Yadier Molina, we all know who that guy is,” Contreras said. “The best catcher of the last two decades, future Hall of Famer. He set the bar really high, and he was my idol.

“But I came here to be Wilson Contreras. And for me, it’s an honor to succeed a Hall of Famer behind the plate. It’s a big responsibility, which I take. And I know that every time that I step out on the field, I give my 100% to win the game.”

Molina reached out following reports of the deal earlier this week, and Contreras described him as, “really excited for me.”

As that seed of an idea sprouted for Contreras, he searched for information to help it grow, In conversations with friend and former teammate José Quintana, the lefty pitcher (who recently signed with the New York Mets) described the clubhouse as “like a family.”

From there, for Contreras, his desired destination was clear. For the Cardinals, there was more yet to learn.

A visit to the catcher’s Orlando area home on November 30 provided answers to many of those questions. Over several hours, the two sides learned what they knew and didn’t know about each other, and each walked away with even more confidence in the other.

“I went in knowing that this is a guy that just wakes up thinking about winning,” manager Oliver Marmol said. “I was hoping I was right. After we left that meeting, it was clear as day that he was going to be a really, really good fit.”

President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak described a Monday meeting in San Diego at the winter meetings with Contreras’s representatives in which numbers were exchanged for the first time. By Tuesday morning, the sides had momentum and optimism. By Tuesday night, Mozeliak said, the sides had a deal.

On Friday afternoon, Contreras had a new jersey.

Asked Mozeliak rhetorically, “Why Willson? A couple reasons. One, he’s really good at baseball. Two, he has great respect for the history of the game and the history of the Cardinals. Three, we were able to not have to trade away from our major league club. We didn’t have to trade prospects, and that was something that we valued. We really wanted to try to maintain our core club. And finally, after enjoying dinner last night together, it became very clear to all of us that he truly wanted to be a Cardinal.”

While Marmol was understandably reluctant to sketch out a lineup on December 9, Contreras does check boxes both as a middle order hitter as well as a starting catcher. And despite the fact that lining him up directly behind Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado would create three righties in a row, Contreras’s career splits are not so extreme as to be a cause for concern.

The Cardinals, by their estimation, have made the offensive addition they needed, and now are in a position where they believe they can be selective, with Mozeliak describing waiting opportunities for Dylan Carlson and Tyler O’Neill as well as the pending rise of slugging prospect Jordan Walker.

The top item on the shopping list has been checked off, and the holiday wreath hanging from the door to the Cardinals’ clubhouse greeted a club eager to open its largest present and present that addition to the world.

Contreras, if nothing else, is eager for the challenge and confident in his ability to meet it.

“When you play against me, you might get not the best perception of myself, because I play for you not like me,” Contreras admitted. “But when you’re on my team, I told these guys, you love me because I do everything that I can for my team. And we have to go out there and win the battle every single day.”