St. Louis Cardinals: Mike Matheny hired by Royals as advisor

In a turn of events that shocked St. Louis Cardinals fans around the world, former manager Mike Matheny was not only considered for a job, he was hired by a major league team once again. The Kansas City Royals made Matheny a special advisor for player development on Friday

Clearly, the Royals management didn’t listen to the many disgruntled St. Louis Cardinals fans who were forced to witness the atrocities that Mike Matheny enacted during his time with the Cardinals. Whether it was the ridiculous lineups, putting Kolten Wong in center field, or bullpen mismanagement that made a sane person’s head spin, Matheny wasn’t the greatest manager, to put it lightly.

But Christian, Mike Matheny made the World Series! Well sure, but the makings of greatness in the sport of baseball revolves around consistency. Outside of his singular World Series appearances, Matheny’s track record with the St. Louis Cardinals was consistently mediocre.

But I am sure I don’t have to tell you that, because you have lived through it. We all know that we don’t want to go back to that place, yet it is my duty to express how preposterous hiring Mike Matheny to develop players is. Randal Grichuk, Stephen Piscotty, Matt Bowman, these are just a few of the young names that floundered under Mike Matheny’s watch in St. Louis.

On top of that, there are those like Luke Voit who were undervalued and unappreciated by Matheny, only to emerge as a valuable contributor upon leaving the St. Louis Cardinals. It’s pretty clear cut and dry that Matheny was not adept at guiding young players along the right track.

Even after thinking about it for a couple of days, I still don’t truly understand what it was that prompted the Royals to even consider Matheny for this job, let alone hire him. Of course, Cardinals Twitter railed into the Royals for this debacle, and I can’t say I disagree with them. There just doesn’t seem to be any rhyme, reason, or substance behind this hiring.

Mike Matheny was a good catcher. Mike Matheny is a good guy. What Mike Matheny was never good at will never be good at is anything related to managing or developing players in baseball. That’s what I saw in his time with the St. Louis Cardinals. If he proves me wrong, more power to him, but he’s shown nothing to make anyone besides Royals management confident that he can.