A dysfunctional day for the Cardinals ended with a lot of lingering confusion and one reminder made quite clear.
Former manager Mike Shildt learned the hard way.
The future manager, whether it’s Oliver Marmol, Stubby Clapp, Skip Schumaker, Matt Holliday, Carlos Beltran or some other surprise candidate, better understand it before he says yes to the job.
Stay on the right side of president of baseball operations John Mozeliak, or you won’t be around for long.
An organization that values differences of opinion when it wants to protect a questionable hire, such as embattled hitting coach Jeff Albert, can and will turn on a dime and use that very same defense to throw another team employee overboard. Even if that team employee is a decorated Cardinals lifer who spent nearly two decades climbing the ranks from scout, to major league field manager. Even if that employee is as Cardinal as they come, a true team historian, a man who is never without his notebook of George Kissell’s baseball lessons.
People are also reading…
What do you think Kissell would think about Shildt being fired by the Cardinals for so-called philosophical differences?
Shildt is out. Fired over the phone. For what? Not some scandal, say the Cardinals. Just philosophical differences.
Only two active managers with as many seasons beneath their belts as Shildt have a better winning percentage than him (.559) since he was promoted to replace Mike Matheny during the 2018 season. The two are Dave Roberts of the Dodgers and Aaron Boone of the Yankees. Which roster — Dodgers, Yankees and Cardinals — would you have liked to manage since 2018? I bet if you asked every manager, the Cardinals would get picked last.
Shildt won the National League manager of the year award in his first full season after replacing Matheny. He received votes for the award again after salvaging a pandemic-scrambled 2020. His third full season, this one, might have been his most impressive work yet.
After a pitching staff had to be thinned to the bone by injuries before the front office arrived with help, Shildt steered the Cardinals to the club’s historic 17-game winning streak and secured a 90-win season and a wild-card appearance. The manager’s late-June hitting intervention turned a lineup that seemed only interested in hitting home runs into a remarkably better offense when it came to hitting with two strikes and with men on base. The Cardinals fielded the best defense in baseball. They ran the bases with precision and aggression. Shildt’s brand of ball was on display more and more since he cleaned up the Cardinals’ ragged ways in 2018. Fundamentally sound. Always upbeat, sometimes almost ironically so. Optimistic, but with a good edge.
Was Shildt perfect? Nope. Not even Tony La Russa, the last manager the Cardinals tolerated truly challenging the front office when he thought he needed to go against the grain, can say he is. Shildt, like the Cardinals, underestimated Randy Arozarena. He put too much trust in Alex Reyes in high-leverage spots after he stumbled from the closer spot, and the Cardinals got burned for it in their season-ending wild-card loss. Because he never played in the majors, Shildt was always at risk of winding up on the wrong side of players who do. But none of these reasons were why he was fired. The Cardinals left Los Angeles looking forward to 2022 together. Their 90 wins this season, for what it’s worth, were five higher than their pythagorean win-loss percentage. That’s a fancy way of suggesting Shildt helped his team far more than he hurt it.
And yet Shildt is now looking for a new gig, preparing to be swooped up by the Padres or some other smart club. The reason, we were told time and time again Thursday, was not the win-loss record. The reason had nothing to do with how Shildt managed the team in 2021, either, we were told.
Must have been some big philosophical differences. Big enough to be explained in detail. Or not.
Thursday’s virtual press conference was announced moments before it started, embarrassingly, on a day with a big postseason game elsewhere. It provided few legitimate answers about the surprise firing — at least not until Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr., who did not seem all that thrilled to be a part of this helter-skelter afternoon drama, summed things up quite clearly.
“This is based on differences between Mo and his group, and the manager,” DeWitt said.
“In today’s baseball world, the business has gotten more and more complicated,” DeWitt later added. “You can see the growth in baseball operations and the staff. There’s more to it, really, than an element or two on the field. One thing you want to make sure is everybody is on the same page. That’s pretty critical, or you are going to stumble along the way. That was part of the discussion we had.”
There was some beef between Mozeliak and Shildt, and the beef for some reason boiled over when focusing on the 2021 season turned into talk about 2022 and beyond. The end result has the Cardinals looking for another manager. One who doesn’t stray from Mozeliak’s page.
Some of this was Albert-related. Shildt was not as big of a believer in the hitting coach’s philosophy as the front office. Mozeliak has been Albert’s biggest defender since day one.
Some of this was roster-related. Multiple times this season Shildt made comments about his team doing the best it could with what it had. The front office is not a fan of a manager lobbying for upgrades, publicly or privately. Problem is, that’s exactly why the Cardinals need a manager who does just that, because it provides some pressure on the front office to improve during a season, which is the one thing the Cardinals have struggled to do or refrained from even trying to do in recent seasons. Shildt did not campaign from the start. He used to say such things were above his pay grade. He began to speak more freely this season. Some fans failed to interpret his pleas. The front office didn’t.
Some of this is related to other things, I’m sure, but the Cardinals are leaving it up to Shildt to explain those details. He was shocked by the news. His comments about his firing, if they come, are sure to be influenced by his hunt for a new job now that he’s lost his dream one. He wouldn’t have to say much to be more forthcoming than Mozeliak.
“Not really,” Mozeliak said when asked if he could describe those philosophical differences.
“As of right now, Jeff Albert is under contract, so I would expect him to be back,” Mozeliak said when asked if the tension that developed between the hitting coach and the manager led to the firing. “In terms of that being the sole reason for this decision, the answer is no.”
“I could tell you to, like, jump out of your car right now, and you may choose not to,” Mozeliak said when asked again to describe the philosophical differences, this time by a reporter who was in a car, because many reporters were in their cars, because the virtual press conference began with no warning.
“People can think on their own,” Mozeliak added. “People can make decisions on their own. A lot of this is about creating autonomy, but there are certain things we would like to see done.”
The next manager of the Cardinals must know that the Cardinals’ collective “we” almost always means Mozeliak. He gave Shildt his chance. Then he ended it. The president of baseball operations is the hand that steers the wheel. Forget that or begin to challenge it, and tracks will wind up on your back.