Cardinals Rumors: St. Louis talking to Skip Schumaker about coaching role

The St. Louis Cardinals are talking to Skip Schumaker about a role on Oli Marmol’s coaching staff.

Before the St. Louis Cardinals hired Oli Marmol as manager, two of the names that were connected to the opening were Skip Schumaker and Matt Holliday. While it sounds like the team at least talked to Schumaker, it appears that neither were interviewed for the opening.

But that doesn’t mean the door is closed on one of them potentially coming to St. Louis.

The Cardinals have talked to Schumaker about a role on Marmol’s staff, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Nothing is done, of course, but adding Schumaker, who is widely regarded as an emerging star managerial candidate, to Marmol’s coaching staff would be a huge coup for the first-time manager.

It remains to be seen what position Schumaker, currently the Padres’ associate manager, would have on Marmol’s staff, but a reasonable expectation is that he would assume Marmol’s previous duties as bench coach. But Schumaker’s former teammates have vouched for his candidacy, with Daniel Descalso recently telling Goold that “He makes people around him better. You want him in your dugout.”

If Schumaker wants the job, and there are indications that he does, there is every reason to expect him to end up back with the Cardinals. The 41-year-old spent eight seasons in St. Louis, hitting .288/.345/.377 with 23 home runs, and was a steady presence inside the clubhouse and in all three outfield spots defensively.

The Cardinals hope that the remainder of the coaching staff remains intact, with both hitting coach Jeff Albert and pitching coach Mike Maddux under contract. Stubby Clapp is not under contract for 2022, but Goold reports the team is in talks with him about a new contract and considering their public desire to retain their coaching staff, it should get done.

We’ll see if the Cardinals are able to hire Schumaker, but there appears to be optimism that a deal will ultimately come to fruition.