The 2019’s Gold Glove award winner Kolten Wong is heading to free agency after St. Louis Cardinals rejected his option for 2021.
If Cardinals opted to keep Wong, he would be set to earn $12.5 million next season. Instead, the 30-year-old player will get $1 million in buyout and will have the opportunity to hit the open market.
Wong finished the 2020 MLB season with 53 game appearances in which he batted .265 with one home run and 16 RBIs.
Cardinals’ decision to decline Wong’s option isn’t a guarantee that Wong ended his stint in St. Louis, however.
“I told him that with some of the uncertainties, we’re just not in a position to do that,” said the team’s president of baseball operations John Mozeliak. “We both agreed to keep the door open, and so as we progress in this, it’s something that we’re not ruling out for a future return.”
Kolten Wong spent his entire career with the Cardinals, debuting in the majors in 2013. Since then, Wong played 852 games in MLB, hitting .261 with 53 career homers and 281 RBIs.
Wong won Gold Glove last season and is a finalist for the same award in 2020. He also has two Fielding Bible Awards as the best defensive player at his position.
