As expected, Oli Marmol has a contract extension in hand from the Cardinals. No aspect of this decision was surprising, and this is true for several reasons.
I want to cover a lot of ground here, so I’ll kick in now and say what I have to say with a Stream of Consciousness.
1. Incoming president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom spent two years getting to know Marmol, evaluating his work, and measuring Oli as a fit for the planned rebuild. Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. told Bloom to do what he wanted with the manager’s position – keep Marmol, move on from Marmol, hire a new manager, reassign Marmol to a different organizational role.
2. Bloom had the freedom to move Marmol out of the manager’s office, but the boss in waiting was so impressed that he came to this conclusion: Marmol was the right manager to help lead this crucially important rebuild.
3. A rebuild won’t succeed if the president of baseball operations and the manager are at opposite ends of the philosophical divide. There must be a unified approach, and a clear understanding of priorities. And the relationship must include a wide open forum for debate and even disagreements. That’s how the front-office leader (Bloom) and field-leader (Marmol) make each other better … which in turn makes the team better. Bloom and Marmol got a head start on the rebuild by determining – well in advance – how the rebuild would play out … and what would be expected of everyone involved. Thank goodness. You don’t “wing it” in a rebuilding process.
4. Counting wins isn’t the priority right now. How about developing players who will help you win for a long time? Ding, ding, ding – we have a winner! As anyone with a reasonably functioning headspace would know, that’s the No. 1 objective in a rebuild. Constructing a whole new team that is bigger and better and deeper than what you had before. Unless, of course, you disagree with that and prefer to see the Cardinals roll around in an embarrassing state of perpetual mediocrity.
5. If you’re going to hire and empower Chaim Bloom – as the DeWitts have – he should go with his working knowledge, scouting, and instincts and choose the manager that makes the most sense for this particular job. The last time the Cardinals went into a rebuild, it was after DeWitt Jr. bought the team in late 1995. And the Cardinals developed into one one of the five best franchises in the majors over a 30-year stretch. (Fact.)
6. I trusted Bloom to make the decision on the manager-leader for this project. In a remarkably fast transition, Bloom and his associates have revived a barren, dilapidated player-development system that’s now considered among the best in the majors by the independent evaluators. Given the extraordinary start – and quite possibly a transformational start – by Bloom, doesn’t he deserve the benefit of the doubt in his choice of Marmol as the manager? Shouldn’t Bloom be entrusted to make that call? Or does some rando loon on “X” know better than Bloom?
7. Bloom correctly concluded that Marmol’s strengths matched the challenges of this particular rebuild. During the earlier years of his two decades of experience with the Cardinals, Marmol impressed the organizational elders with his teaching ability and communication skill with young players. That is his background. And with this rebuild, the Cardinals need to reestablish that. Teach. Instruct. Talk. Correct. Learn. Adapt. Accountability. Developing physical talent and making young players smarter. Marmol was trained for the role. And now that the roster is young again, Marmol makes sense. His generational roots can be valuable again.
8. That’s another benefit of a rebuild: a manager can shape a new generation of Cardinals with an all-encompassing blank-slate approach instead of being obstructed by crabby, self-absorbed, self-entitled veterans who want to call the shots and treat the manager as if he’s their manservant. It is way past time for the Cardinals to cultivate a newer, fresher and more modern-thinking leadership nucleus. Gone are the pathetic days when other veterans pushed for the Cardinals to hire Matt Carpenter and Brandon Crawford because they – the veteran Cardinals – didn’t want the burden of leadership.
9. Hell, no manager should have to beg veterans to lead. But here’s the good news: Marmol will develop his own leaders, and the young shall lead the young, and that leads to increased ownership and accountability as the Cardinals redefine themselves and establish higher standards.
10. The days of selfish, sorry, no-account starting pitchers ganging up on catcher Willson Contreras to blame him for their own laziness and failures … Well, never again. Marmol handled that situation poorly in early 2023, but there was a blessing. He learned so much from it. It made him better.
11. There’s a fresh energy that wasn’t here before. As Bloom said of Marmol on Sunday: “He’s invested in what we’re doing to get from where we are to where we want to go, invested in the progress of this core that we are building, and also invested in making everybody around him better, and in being willing to push and challenge himself to grow and evolve. And in that respect, exemplifying exactly what we need to be about, and exactly what we want everybody in this organization to do.” Bloom described it as Oli “pushing to move forward and to set new standards.”
12. One thing that really bothers me about the way Marmol has been treated in some circles is the blatant lack of appreciation and respect for the many years he’s devoted his baseball life to the Cardinals.
13. That used to mean a lot in these parts, but this baseball market has changed … possibly forever. Marmol was drafted by the Cardinals, played in their system, coached in their system, managed in their system, coached first base for the big-league team, served as bench coach for the big-league team, and became the manager of the big-league team. Marmol is 39. He came to the Cardinals at age 19.
14. Marmol loves this franchise. He reveres the teachers and instructors and the keepers of the flame … Cherished men like George Kissell, Red Schoendienst, Dave Ricketts, Jose Oquendo, Mark DeJohn, Joe Pettini, Willie McGee and so many others … including Mike Shildt (before the conflict that cost him the manager’s job.) The traditional courtesy of respect shown to Cardinal lifers by the fan base somehow bypassed Marmol. Sad.
15. Wisdom from Dayn Perry, who writes the excellent “Birdy Work” Cardinals blog on Substack – and YES, you should subscribe …
“Marmol received an extension from Bloom not because of his career record but rather because Bloom and the front office believe he has the traits to lead the clubhouse and dugout through the current rebuild,” Perry wrote. “To cite Marmol’s career record or the Cardinals’ absence from the postseason in three of his four years is to have a discussion that’s entirely different from the one that matters.
“You’ll recall that Marmol was elevated to the manager’s chair in large measure because of his willingness to align with the front office and implement their vision and strategies at the ground level, which was in contrast to Mike Shildt. The difference now is that the front office’s vision and strategies are better suited to the moment and the contemporary game.
“Too often we misapply our football and basketball mindset to baseball, which is heavily influenced by randomness and isn’t nearly as tactically involved as those sports. Put another way, the front office’s decision-making and ownership’s level of roster investment have much more to do with on-field results than does the manager.”
16. From today’s Bernie Show video. And yes, I’m quoting myself.
As I’ve cited many times, the Cardinals have won more games than they should have under Marmol. That’s based on the advanced data at Clay Davenport’s site, which has been my go-to source for this since he launched it in 2011.
Based on run differential and underlying strength of opponents, the Cardinals are 15 wins better than their actual regular-season record since Marmol took over in 2022. In his first four seasons, based on the Davenport metrics, the Cards have never lost more games than they should have in a regular season under Marmol. The opposite is true.
+ 3 wins above expected in 2022
+ 1 win above expected in 2023
+ 7 wins above expected in 2024
+ 4 wins above expected in 2025
Translation: Marmol has pretty much squeezed as much as he can from limited teams. Even the 2022 Cardinals.
(Yeah, I know, Game 1, Philadelphia, Ryan Helsley, 9th inning, Marmol was slow to respond to a blazing fire. I’ll see that and raise you Rick White in Game 4 of the 2002 NLCS, when Tony La Russa overextended him – 2.1 innings – in a relief role which resulted in a blown save and a 4-3 Giants win that gave them a 3-1 lead in the NLCS.)
17. Marmol’s finest work came in 2024, when the Cardinals posted a winning record (83-79) despite ranking 12th in the National League in runs scored, 12th in homers, 11th in slugging and 11th in starting-pitching ERA. Based on run differential and other underlying factors, the 2024 team should have skidded to a 76-86 record.
But Marmol’s superb handling of the bullpen enabled the Cards to “steal” games. That bullpen led the majors in saves, was near the top in Win Probability Added, had a 64-4 record when leading through seven innings, and a 69-1 mark when ahead through eight innings.
18. Over the past two seasons (combined), the Cardinals had a winning percentage that was 34 points better than it should have been.
19. Some interesting facts on Marmol that perhaps only I find interesting:
* At age 39, despite managing four big-league seasons, Marmol is still the second-youngest manager in the majors. Washington’s new manager, Blake Butera, is younger (age 33.)
* In terms of seniority with their current National League clubs, Marmol ranks third behind Dave Roberts (Dodgers) and Tory Lovullo (Diamondbacks.) Roberts, 53, became LA’s manager in 2016. Lovullo, now 60, was hired by Arizona before the 2017 season.
* At age 39, Marmol ranks 11th among the current 30 MLB managers for most big-league seasons as a manager.
* Among all MLB managers going into 2026, only five have managed their current teams longer than Marmol has managed the Cardinals (4). The five are Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash (11), Luvollo (8), Boston’s Alex Cora (6), and Detroit’s A.J. Hinch (5.) Mark Kotsay (A’s) and Marmol are next with four seasons at their current gigs.
* Among the 30 current managers, Marmol is one of only 15 that enter the 2026 season with a winning record as a MLB manager. Ten current managers have a losing career record in the majors. And five managers will be making their MLB debuts in 2026 including St. Louisan Tony Vitello (Giants.)
20. One of the dumbest criticisms of Marmol comes from the very smart people (ahem) who insist he shouldn’t be managing the Cardinals because he never played a single game in the major leagues. Oh, is that right? That’s a disqualifier? Are you sure about that, Champ?
– Joe McCarthy never played in the majors but won 2,125 games and 7 World Series as manager of the Yankees.
– As a future Hall of Fame manager of the Orioles, St. Louisan Earl Weaver won four AL pennants, a World Series, and rolled up five 100-win seasons while on the way to 1,480 career wins. As a player he made it as far as the Triple A level in the Cardinals system.
– Jim Leyland? Never played in the majors. But he guided the Marlins and Tigers to three league pennants, led the Marlins to the 1997 World Series title, was a three-time manager of the year, and finished with 1,769 wins and a spot in the Hall of Fame.
– Joe Maddon: never played a major-league game. But he did lead the Rays to their first AL pennant. Then he later moved onto Chicago to lead the 2016 Cubs to the NL pennant and their first World Series championship by the franchise since 1908.
– Buck Showalter never played a game in the bigs. He never won a World Series or a pennant as a big-league manager. But he was a four-time Manager of the Year winner, and led impressive turnarounds with the Yankees, Diamondbacks and Orioles.
– Jim Frey never played a game in the majors, but he was an important coach for Earl Weaver in Baltimore for 10 seasons before becoming manager in Kansas City and taking the Royals to the 1980 AL pennant.
– Sparky Anderson did have 152 major-league games as a player – so I guess that’s why he won five pennants and three World Series while managing the Reds and Tigers. And Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda did very well as Dodgers manager despite pitching in only 26 big-league games.
OPINIONS
Jim Bowden, speaking on MLB Network Radio:
"This is a (baseball team) president's dream of a young, developing manager to run a young, developing team," Bowden said. "He fits that mold. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I think he's a 10-year manager. And what I mean by that is I think he's one of those managers that's gonna spend a decade managing the same team — the St. Louis Cardinals.
“In three years they need to be in the postseason. They need to be contending. I think it will work and I'm a fan and I like it and I want to compliment (president of baseball operations) Chaim Bloom for not having him have to be sitting there with his job on the line this year. Unfair. Because you know what the results are gonna be."
Patrick McAvoy, who writes about the Cardinals for SI.com:
“At the end of the day, maintaining some continuity in a period of reset is undeniably important. Marmol has shown that he can maximize talent and work with young groups since taking over as the manager of the Cardinals. Now, with veterans out the door left and right, it's more important now than ever to keep a voice in town to help the young guys reach their full potential. The faster that can happen, the faster the Cardinals will be back to contention in the National League.”
Here's J.T. Buchheit, who does consistently good work at Redbird Rants:
“With Marmol seemingly in tow for the next few seasons, Yadier Molina will have a decision to make regarding whether he would like to remain as a special assistant to Bloom, arriving at spring training to help with player instruction and showing up for a few regular season games, or if he'd be interested in jumping ship to another team with a managerial vacancy,” Buchheit wrote. “The same goes with Pujols if the Angels decide to pivot from new manager Kurt Suzuki. Cardinals fans would undoubtedly feel betrayed if that were to happen, but in a rebuild, fans can't expect the team to throw them a bone.”
Thanks for reading …
– Bernie
Bernie was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. During a St. Louis sports-media career that goes back to 1985, he’s won multiple national awards for column writing and sports-talk hosting – and was the lead sports columnist at the Post-Dispatch from 1989 through 2015. Before that Bernie spent a year at the Dallas Morning News, covering the Dallas Cowboys during Tom Landry’s final season (1988) plus the sale of the team to Jerry Jones and the hiring of Jimmy Johnson as coach. Bernie has covered several Baseball Hall of Fame managers during his media career including Tony La Russa, Whitey Herzog, Earl Weaver, Joe Torre and (as an interim) Red Schoendienst. In his career as a beatwriter and columnist, Bernie covered Pro Football Hall of Fame coaches Joe Gibbs, Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson and Dick Vermeil on a daily basis.
Bernie has covered and written about many great St. Louis sports team athletes including Albert Pujols, Kurt Warner, Brett Hull, Yadier Molina, Adam Wainwright, Jim Edmonds, Marshall Faulk, Scott Rolen, Mark McGwire, Orlando Pace, Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, Al MacInnis, Brian Sutter, Bernie Federko, Chris Pronger, Dan Dierdorf, Jackie Smith and Aeneas Williams. Bernie covered every baseball Cardinals’ postseason game from 1996 through 2014 and was there to chronicle teams that won four NL pennants and two World Series. He provided extensive coverage on the “Greatest Show” St. Louis Rams and has written extensively on the St. Louis Blues, Saint Louis U, and Mizzou football and basketball. Bernie was/is a longtime voter for the Baseball Hall of Fame, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Heisman Trophy and the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.
You can access his columns, videos and the podcast version of the videos here on STL Sports Central, catch him regularly on KMOX (AM or FM) as part of the Gashouse Gang, Sports Rush Hour, Sports Open Line or Sports On a Sunday Morning shows. And you can catch weekly “reunion” segments here at STL Sports Central featuring Bernie and his longtime friend Randy Karraker.