Oli Marmol helps Cardinals fans see the light with Mike Shildt
By Josh Wilson
Oli Marmol is frustrating Cardinals fans so badly that they’re realizing things weren’t so bad under Mike Shildt’s management.
Oli Marmol is getting such rough reviews as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, that fans are practically begging for Mike Shildt back.
While plenty of Cardinals fans were OK with Shildt’s firing at the time, most would prefer his presence in the clubhouse now over Marmol’s.
Take a look at how people are talking about Shildt these days:
Cardinals Twitter desperately wishes they had Mike Shildt, not Oli Marmol
https://twitter.com/STLfan006457/status/1665922445084094465
disconnect if I’ve ever seen it. Oli is LOST.. got nothing to stay to these guys… again this would not be the problem with Mike Shildt.
— Charles (@CJPav) June 6, 2023
Bill DeWitt needs to step in give Mike a call and bring the right attitude back to the dugout. https://t.co/nnvU8K56hZ
There’s no universal agreement, though, with some fans believing those who want Shildt back are taking on some revisionist history:
My favorite narrative to come out of all of this is people wanting Mike Shildt back.
— Rachael Boyd☀️👀 (@rachxboyd) June 6, 2023
PLEASE.
He was not a good manager and they absolutely needed to go in a different direction. The fact that Oli isn’t the right man for the job doesn’t mean Shildt was. How quickly we forget 🙃
Plenty, though, think that Marmol won’t get fired because he’s controllable by ownership.
Mike Shildt got fired after the best win streak in Cardinals history and winning manager of the year. Success isn’t what matters to the organization and ownership anymore, it’s about money and being right Mo and Dewitt’s way.
— Bakersman (@18neverforget) June 5, 2023
Hey #stlcards Twitter: Mozeliak isn't going to fire Oli Marmol. Ever. Not after firing career-loyal Cardinal Mike Shildt, supposedly, for being honest and saying he needed player upgrades to win.
— Nathan Woodside (@Nathanwoodside) June 5, 2023
This is a water-logged ship sitch, and Mo is the captain.
And some think that’s every reason to go ahead and kill the dream that Yadier Molina could come in as manager:
Yadi will not be a Cardinal Manager because he will not bow down and do whatever the front office says. Unless something changes the next Manager of the Cardinals has to be a yes man to Mo just like Oli and MM. Shildt is the example of what happens when you speak out. #STLCards
— Eric Champion Design (@eric_champion) June 5, 2023
Shildt led the team to a 252-199 record in three and a half seasons, he came in in 2018 after Mike Matheny was fired as interim manager and took over as full-time shortly thereafter. In his first full season, he brought the Cardinals to the NLCS, but the team did not make it through the Wild Card round the seasons after that.
Shildt, though, was not fired for poor management, per se. President John Mozeliak at the time said the firing was due to “philosophical differences,” that arose rather suddenly. Shildt said he felt blindsided and deeply hurt and was expecting the call would be about a contract extension, not a termination.
He didn’t go into much detail — and neither did Mozeliak — on the firing, but it seems as though it came from Shildt asking for more talent to work with:
"“There were just some things that I felt could be better, and I thought I was in a safe place to share them. Clearly, I wasn’t.’’"
Shildt worked for the Cardinals for 18 years, and it all ended after a season that inspired at least some hope if St. Louis could make the right moves in the offseason.
Now, fans, and the organization, are stuck with Marmol.
dark. Next. 1 trade every MLB team would like to have back