This should surprise nobody, except maybe Bryan Anderson's parents, who were about to file a missing persons report—Yadier Molina's sore knees finally warrant a checkup, admit the St. Louis Cardinals:
↵↵↵Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina is traveling back to St. Louis to receive an MRI exam on his troublesome right knee.
↵Molina has been dealing with soreness in his knee since late August, when he suffered an injury in a game against the Nationals. He sat out two games immediately after the injury but has played more often than not in the days since. He sat out Sunday's game at home then played Monday and Tuesday before the persistent pain led the club to send him home to be checked out.
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For some time now the Cardinals have picked up basically any old backup catcher off the waiver wire, on the assumption that it didn't matter who played backup catcher if they never actually got on the field. Sometimes that's all that can be done, but in 2010 it didn't—and doesn't—have to be like this. The Cardinals have a potentially useful backup who's the exact opposite of Yadier Molina in all kinds of useful, exploitable ways—he hits pretty well, he's a bad defender, and he's left-handed.
↵And even with Molina getting an MRI and Jason LaRue forced to retire, the Cardinals would rather play Matt Pagnozzi, who is the worst player in baseball on a team with multiple claimants to that title. Absurd.