St. Louis Cardinals: Five reasons to keep Mike Matheny

St. Louis Cardinals manager, Mike Matheny, will be entering his 7th season managing the Cardinals in April 2018.

There have been good times, and there have been some bumpy times. However, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of middle ground with St. Louis Cardinals fans. It seems you are either against Mike Matheny or, in my words, IN #ClubMatheny.

I am not in #ClubMatheny for the record. So this is a challenge for me. In my debut article for Redbird Rants, I will attempt to give five reasons why Mike Matheny should continue as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals. Again, this is a challenge for me. I, like many of you, can give plenty of reasons why he shouldn’t.

Before I jump in, let me begin by saying that my dislike for Matheny being the manager isn’t personal. I sincerely believe the first six years of his managing career, there has been no growth. Year six looked an awful like years 1-5 to me. He shows the same bullpen management and the same seniority/favoritism based lineups. The fielding has not improved and the base running is atrocious.

Yes, John Mozeliak and the players take some blame here, but I place a majority of the blame on Mike Matheny. The “Leader of Men” guided our St. Louis Cardinals to early October tee times the past two years. All of that is for another time though. Here are my top-5 reasons why Mike Matheny should continue to manage the St. Louis Cardinals.

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#5- Once you’re in #ClubMatheny, you’re in #ClubMatheny for life.

Ask Jon Jay, Daniel Descalso, Allen Craig, and Matt Adams where their #ClubMatheny status got them. I kid, mostly. I guess what I’m trying to say is Mike Matheny is loyal to his players.

Probably loyal to a fault, but he does have his players backs.

Mo has had to step in a few times, but once you’re in Mike’s good graces, he will battle for you, he will give you a ton of chances, and he will have the players backs.

#4- In my heart and mind, I believe Mike Matheny is a good man. I’ve never heard a bad thing said about him away from the field. A good father, husband, now grandfather…that will always get some respect from me. Family first, always.

#3- I do believe he has a few qualities it takes to be a good manager. I do believe, in most cases, he can relate to today’s players, including players of all backgrounds and that’s let in today’s game. There have been communication rumblings here and there, but that happens in every clubhouse. I’ll give Mike a plus grade here.

#2- Mike has represented our team and city with a great deal of pride and respect. He’s been involved in the community and he has raised he family here. As one of the faces of the franchise, Mike Matheny has done his job.

#1- I tweeted this out a while ago, and it still stands true today. We all heard his end of the season press conference. We hear most of his interviews. Mike can absolutely say the right things and say them with total conviction.

I see why Bill DeWitt has complete faith in Mike as the best man for the job. Mike sells himself very well with the words he says, making me think, at times, he does know the game of baseball. I keep holding out hope someday, preferably 2018, this will somehow translate to on the field success.

He is going into year seven, and for the past five there has been a decline.

• 2013-Lost to the Red Sox in the World Series.
• 2014- the year I actually lost faith in his management skills. Wacha vs Giants. Enough said.
• 2015- a 100 win season ended with a this after winning 1 game vs  the Cubs in the NLDS.
• 2016- MISSED the postseason by 1 game.
• 2017- MISSED the postseason by multiple games and finished the last and most important week of the season going 2-5.

Next: Adding a bat still a priority

There is plenty of blame to go around, including Mo, players performance, and DeWitt wanting to win, but Mike Matheny HAS to be better. I would love to submit an article to Redbird Rants this time next year updating five reasons to keep Matheny, but right now, this is all I have.