ST. LOUIS - Fans in St. Louis are familiar with the scenario of a franchise superstar player entering the final year of his contract with the Cardinals.
Albert Pujols left. Yadier Molina stayed. Next up is Adam Wainwright.
The star right-hander enters the final year of his contract in 2013 and will get a longterm deal and a massive raise from someone in the near future. But will that be from the Cardinals?
Wainwright and the club discussed the parameters of a contract extension late last summer but the right-hander requested that the talks be tabled so he could focus on their playoff push.
"They were trying to get something done last year during the season," Wainwright said. "I just figured, for one, it wasn't going to hurt my case to wait it out and see where some of these other guys signed. But two, we were getting to the end of the season in September and the playoffs were coming up and I knew we had a great chance to win.
"I wanted to put my focus into those games coming up...
