Cardinals: Yadier Molina shares what he wants in new manager

St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina shares what he wants in new manager — and it sounds a lot like two candidates.

Count Yadier Molina among the people surprised by the St. Louis Cardinals’ decision to fire manager Mike Shildt.

In an interview with ElNuevoDia, Molina was unsure of what went into the decision. He called Shildt an excellent communicator and a good manager. He speculated that there could have been issues between Shildt and president of baseball operations John Mozeliak, which seems like a good guess considering the “philosophical differences” that resulted in Shildt’s firing.

But when you finish 19 games over .500, make the playoffs and at one point win 17 consecutive games, you don’t expect to fire your manager. They lost on one pitch in the wild card game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team that entered as significant favorites.

Alas, Molina says that he is hoping for the Cardinals to hire a Puerto Rican manager, saying “It would be nice to play for a Puerto Rican manager in my last season. But the mentality of winning, doing things well and protecting ourselves, is the most a player wants.”

There are two candidates who stand out in this scenario. The first is Jose Oquendo, a former infielder and now current coach on the Cardinals staff with whom Molina has a relationship with. The other, and much more unlikely candidate, is Carlos Beltran, a legendary baseball player who probably won’t be a manager again after playing a significant part in the Astros cheating scandal.

There is a legit chance, however, that Molina gets his wish. The Cardinals are likely to hire an internal candidate to replace Shildt. The current favorite is Oliver Marmol, the team’s bench coach, but perhaps with Molina’s endorsement could vault Oquendo ahead of him.

Either way, Oquendo is surely going to be considered — and going with someone the players want will make Shildt’s firing sting a little bit less.