Longtime St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina signed a 3-year, $60 million contract extension Sunday, keeping him with the Redbirds through the 2020 season.

Molina has played for the Cards at the major-league level since 2004. He won Gold Glove awards in eight of the last nine years, and was named an All-Star in seven of the last eight seasons. The Cardinals have gone to the World Series four times since Molina arrived in the majors, winning the championship title twice.

Molina played in the Midwest League in 2002, batting .280 with 7 HR and 50 RBI in 112 games with the Peoria Chiefs. The Chiefs won the Midwest League Championship Series that year.

Molina is in the last year of a 5-year, $75 million contract extension he signed before the start of the 2012 season. At that time I wrote a post about him and his brothers Bengie and Jose all being Midwest League alumni. That post, which you can read here, has proven to be very popular, as it has been clicked on more times than anything else I’ve written on this website.

Perez agrees to 4-year deal with Indians

Cleveland Indians catcher Roberto Perez has agreed to a 4-year, $9 million deal with the Tribe. The contract includes club options for the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

Perez made his major-league debut for the Indians in 2014. He played for the Lake County Captains in three different seasons: 17 games in 2009 (when the Captains were in the South Atlantic League), 118 games in 2010 (Lake County’s first year in the Midwest League), and a one-game rehab appearance in 2016. He batted .219 with 6 HR and 43 RBI in those 136 games. The Captains won the Midwest League Championship Series in 2010.

Roberto Perez bats for the Captains during a rehab appearance at Classic Park last year. (Photo by Brittany Chay/The News-Herald)