St. Louis Cardinals: Great but unlikely replacements for Mike Matheny

The St. Louis Cardinals would be wise to invite their former third base coach to actually be the manager this time around.

The St. Louis Cardinals had the opportunity to hire Jose Oquendo as their manager when they erroneously chose Matheny. Oquendo did, in fact, interview for the position but was passed-over for the job. It was a damn shame too.

At the time, the St. Louis Cardinals were looking at losing Tony La Russa and Albert Pujols in the wake. There were plenty of rumors and speculation that Pujols would have stayed with the Cardinals (for less money at that too) had the organization hired Oquendo. We will never know if this would have been the case, but…

Jose has plenty of managerial experience having managed the St. Louis Cardinals’ rookie affiliate in New Jersey in 1997. In 1999, Oquendo joined the major league club staff as the bench coach and then eventually the everyday third base coach.

It was Oquendo, the player who played all positions on the field which earned him the nick name of the “secret weapon,” who was responsible in the La Russa days for the defensive positioning. In fact, this might have been his greatest secret weapon as Jose taught the Cardinals how to play their positions and then masterfully deployed them.

Oh, and this is all in addition to his managing the Puerto Rican team twice in the World Baseball Classic. A huge shout-out here to our co-editor, Tito, who is Puerto Rican and who loves all things Puerto Rico!

And yet, with all of the credentials to his name, Jose was pushed aside for the inexperienced Mike Matheny.

Jose didn’t last long with the big club in the Matheny era and now finds himself comfortably sitting in Florida working with young St. Louis Cardinals prospects. This is thanks to his displeasure with the Matheny way of coaching and thanks to his recent knee surgeries. Jose reports that he is happy in the current position, but surely he still has managerial expectations…

To be fair, Jose might not accept the position if offered as he has made it somewhat clear that he doesn’t feel comfortable traveling with his weakened knees and that he likes being near his home in Florida. Regardless, I would love to see this name as a replacement for the infuriating Matheny.

The St. Louis Cardinals have been joined in Pittsburgh by a former Ace of the staff and he has brought with him an impassioned fire that would serve the club well as manager.

The St. Louis Cardinals were wise to snatch up Chris Carpenter upon his retirement into a special assistant to the GM position. Carpenter had an outstanding run with the Cardinals and should absolutely remain with the club. If Matheny is out (which, please God, he should be), then Carpenter and his fire-y personality would be a welcomed change from the sleepy Matheny.

I have to admit that I had never really considered Chris Carpenter as a managerial option for the St. Louis Cardinals. I knew that the organization believed him to be a valuable asset thanks to their locking him up into an assist role to the GM. Maybe I was just late to this game. Maybe the organization had him working for them with this already in mind.

Then, recently, Carpenter was interviewed and asked about the recent St. Louis Cardinals successes. His response spurred these managerial thoughts. Here’s what Carpenter had to say about the Cardinals:

Wouldn’t you love to have a manager who felt this way? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a manager who would go into post-game interviews with the old fire of La Russa? I would love to hear something other than, “…tonight was rough…”

A further example of Carpenter’s no bullsh*t approach was his recent quote that he loves Lance Lynn because he pitches with fire. We all remember Carpenter screaming from the mound and even calling out fellow players for not hustling, etc. I would kill for those qualities as the leader of the men who wear the birds on the bat.

Just think about it. Despite his lack of experience, wouldn’t he be better than Matheny? Wouldn’t he inspire players to play better? With the degree of respect that is held for him by other players in the game, wouldn’t he be a piece the front office could use to land names as opposed to the difficulties faced when players won’t come to STL because of Matheny?

I don’t even know if the front office would consider calling Carpenter to replace Matheny but they should.

The St. Louis Cardinals already have a better manager in their organizational ranks in Memphis.

The St. Louis Cardinals should- in all actuality- replace Matheny today with the likes of Stubby Clapp. Clapp became the manager of the Memphis Redbirds this season and has lead that team to amazing successes. In fact, the Redbirds sit at 40 games over the .500 mark. 40 games!

The Redbirds have already stamped their ticket to the AAA postseason so it is unlikely that Clapp would replace Matheny today (although it should happen) but it does not preclude him from replacing Matheny the moment the Redbirds seize the AAA title (something that seems inevitable at this point).

Of the three names listed here, Clapp seems the most likely candidate to replace Matheny if Mozeliak/Girsch become smart enough to make this happen. And, in all likelihood, Clapp would bring with him Mark Budaska as the new hitting coach replacing the horrid Matheny.

I love Buda and have written about his wonderful successes reinvigorating players who are struggling. Want to see some praise we’ve written about him? Jump here for that.

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In addition to Buda, I bet Clapp would be wise enough to snatch up Chris Carpenter as his new pitching coach. See how this would be a win-win? I imagine too that Clapp would keep Mike Shildt but likely do away with the Quality Control Coach moniker and instead use Shildt as his bench coach (in essence having two managers on the bench).

What a powerhouse! I’m pausing just to catch my excited breath at these thoughts.

And how about experience? Clapp has that. For a review of this, jump over to my news piece that I wrote when Memphis was wise enough to name him their manager after Shildt was promoted. You can read that piece here.

Lastly, I’m not alone in believing that Clapp is the successor to the failed Matheny. Tina recently wrote for us here at Redbird Rants that Clapp was listed as the best managerial candidate by the Pacific Coast League’s Best Tools List for 2017.

All of these hopes will all-but-likely be smashed however once the St. Louis Cardinals organization simply asks Matheny to return as manager in 2018. While it shouldn’t be the case, Matheny does have years remaining on his extension and the Cardinals are likely to keep him through this, but they shouldn’t.

Next: A permanent plan for Waino

Time will tell if any of these three might once again (Carpenter and Oquendo) join the Cardinals or if the rising superstar from Memphis will take the helm. Any of these would be better choices than who is currently leading the St. Louis Cardinals if only the front office would listen to me (and the countless others who urge for the removal of Matheny).