Before reporting for work at new job, Yadier Molina has a familiar task to complete.
He has his team playing for a championship.
Again.
Criollos de Caguas, already the champions of Puerto Rico’s winter league, and their first-year manager Molina opened the Caribbean Series with a win Thursday morning. The Caguas rallied in the second half of the game to defeat Nicaragua, 5-2, at the Miami Marlins’ loanDepot Park, and on Friday, Molina gets something of a rematch with the country that eliminated his Puerto Rico club from this past year's World Baseball Classic. And on the same turf, too.
For the first time, the annual tournament of champions is being played at a major-league ballpark — a short distance but a long drive, pending traffic, from where Molina will soon report for his second act with the Cardinals, as a special assistant.
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Since retiring his catching gear, Molina has been building a strong resume and gathering experience for the job he says he ultimately wants, manager.
During his final months with the Cardinals as their all-time catcher, Molina sought opportunities to manage and coach, first going to Venezuela a year ago to helm a winter ball team. He managed Puerto Rico’s team in the World Baseball Classic this past spring, and this winter returned closer to his hometown as the manager of Caguas, a team expected to live up to its history as the winningest club in the Liga de Beisbol Professional Roberto Clemente.
After finishing 21-19 during the regular season, Caguas surged in the playoffs and won the best-of-nine championship in Game 8 against the Gigantes de Carolina.
Molina watched the final outs from a low vantage point, just out of sight.
He had been ejected in the third inning of the game for arguing about the strike zone — meaning that reportedly his first ejection and first championship came on the same night.
The title trophy was Caguas’ 21st.
Each year, the winter baseball season concludes with the champions from multiple leagues participating in a tournament to crown the Caribbean Series winner. Puerto Rico’s team has won the tournament 16 times; Criollos has five Caribbean Series titles, the most recent coming in 2018. Seven leagues are represented in this year’s tournament in Miami: Tigres del Licey (Dominican Republic), Tiburones de la Guaira (Venezuela), Naranjeros de Hermosillo (Mexico’s Pacific League), Federales de Chiriqui (Panama), Gigantes de Rivas (Nicaragua), Curacao Suns (Curacao), and Molina’s Caguas.
The first seven days of the Caribbean Series are a round-robin, and the teams who emerge with the top four records will play in semifinals.
The championship is Feb. 9 at loanDepot Park.
The next three days are likely to decide if Molina’s club advances into the single-elimination rounds. The Caguas play Mexico’s champion at 7:30 p.m. Friday ºüÀêÊÓƵ time, follow that with a game Saturday night against mighty Licey, and then, on Sunday, a matchup of All-Star managers. That afternoon, Molina faces the Venezuelan champions led by Ozzie Guillen., the former White Sox manager and Gold Glove-winning shortstop.
A two-time World Series champ with the Cardinals, Molina dotted the autumn of his playing career with championships in different arenas.
Before retiring from the Cardinals, Molina purchased a professional basketball team in Puerto Rico. With him as owner, Vaqueros de Bayamon has won two championships (2020 and 2022), and the team finished runnerup in 2023.
Molina began preparing for his post-playing career in baseball while still playing. He led Puerto Rico’s Under-23 team into an international tournament back in 2017, a month after being an All-Star with the Cardinals and the year before he won his ninth Gold Glove with the Cardinals. During spring training of his final season, Molina revealed he had been hired to manage a winter-ball club in Venezuela during the 2022-23 season. He guided Navegantes to a 29-27 record and then moved into the manager role for Team Puerto Rico at the WBC.
At each stop, Molina has expressed an interest in being a manager in the majors, and he has described these positions as part of the preparation.
This past summer, when Molina visited ºüÀêÊÓƵ to celebrate the career of Adam Wainwright, he had a lengthy conversation with Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol about joining his former club’s coaching staff. Months of discussions followed. A variety of roles were explored. Molina expressed he was not yet ready to commit for a full season, to miss all that time with his family. The Cardinals and their longtime catcher agreed in December to a part-time advisor role that will give Molina time in uniform during spring training, and he’ll appear in the dugout at times during the regular season.
The Cardinals expect him to spend some time during spring training in Jupiter, Florida, working with catchers and coaches. Molina’s full title is special assistant to the president of baseball operations, John Mozeliak, and as part of that role Mozeliak said Molina will spend some time with the front office looking at how they evaluate players and make roster decisions. The Cardinals’ expectation is Molina will spend most of his time on the field with players.
But first, the Series.
Nicaragua took a no-hitter into the fourth inning against Caguas on Thursday morning and held a 1-0 lead. Danny Ortiz, who hit .355 during the season, tied the game with a sacrifice fly in the fifth and off Puerto Rico’s champions went for the winning rally. Jack Lopez, who played this past season for the Angels’ Class AAA club, had a tie-breaking triple. Molina’s bullpen took over when Caguas trailed and six relievers combined to strike out five and allow one run over the final 5 2/3 innings.
Alex Sanabia, a longtime Marlins farmhand who pitched this past season in independent ball, is scheduled to start Friday for Puerto Rico’s champs.
The Caribbean Series brings Molina back to Miami, where Team Puerto Rico’s World Baseball Classic ended in a loss to Mexico. Speaking this week with El Nueva Dia, Molina said that elimination loss was on his mind as the game with Mexico’s champions neared.
“Mexico always brings good teams,†he told El Nueva Dia. “I still have that thorn from the (WBC) game. Let’s be ready. We trust ourselves. Whoever does the little things will win.â€
So says the manager.