ST. LOUIS—On the final day of Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings in Nashville, the St. Louis Cardinals made news on two fronts with an eye towards 2024.

The club officially announced that retired catcher Yadier Molina was rejoining the organization as a special assistant to President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak.

The team had been in talks with Molina about joining the major league coaching staff for 2024, but in an interview last week in Puerto Rico, Molina said that would be unlikely for next year. Mozeliak told Spectrum News last week that he still needed to speak with Molina’s representation but expected the issue to be addressed this week.

“We are excited to welcome Yadi back to the St. Louis Cardinals,” said Mozeliak in a news release.  “He will provide invaluable help at the major league level, as well as spend time with our minor league teams in his new role with the team.”

At the major league level, Molina will serve as a key sounding board for the man who succeeded him last year, Willson Contreras, and Ivan Herrera, who enters 2024 as the full-time backup after seeing brief time in the majors over the past two years. MLB.com counts three catchers, Pedro Pages, Leonardo Bernal and Jimmy Crooks, on the club’s top 30 prospect list.

Also Wednesday, the Cardinals claimed right handed pitcher Ryan Fernandez in Major League Baseball’s Rule 5 draft. Fernandez, 25, has spent the past five seasons in Boston’s minor league system. In 2023, Fernandez pitched at the Class A, AA and AAA levels, where he struck out 67 hitters in a little over 54 innings pitched.

Under MLB rules, Fernandez must remain on the St. Louis active roster or injured list for the entire 2024 season, or be offered back to Boston.