Cardinals bring back Wainwright on 1-year, $5M deal

Adam Wainwright will return to St. Louis for at least one more season.

The veteran pitcher agreed to a one-year contract with the Cardinals on Tuesday, the team announced.

Wainwright will be paid a base salary of $5 million in 2020 and can earn another $5 million through various incentives, a source told Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

The 38-year-old has spent his entire big-league career with the Cardinals, and this deal likely ensures he'll retire as a member of the team.

Wainwright stopped short of saying he'll call it a career after the 2020 season, though he acknowledged this agreement could be his final contract.

"I originally proposed a six-year deal, guaranteed, but the Cardinals didn't go for it," Wainwright quipped to reporters on Tuesday, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

"At the moment we're going year to year," he added. "And with the likelihood of this probably being it. But who knows how those things work? My thought right now is only to help this team win a World Series. That's it."

Wainwright posted a 14-10 record with a 4.19 ERA in 171 2/3 innings for the Cardinals last season.

The three-time All-Star has thrown more than 2,100 innings for St. Louis in 14 seasons, recording a 3.39 ERA, 3.38 FIP, and 1.23 WHIP.

Wainwright's 162 wins rank fourth in franchise history, while his 1,776 strikeouts sit second behind Bob Gibson.

He's finished third or better in voting for the National League Cy Young on four separate occasions and won championships with the Cardinals in 2006 and 2011.