Former St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Shildt finds new job

Former St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Shildt has finally landed a new job in a role working in the commissioners office.

When the St. Louis Cardinals abruptly fired Mike Shildt, sending shockwaves throughout baseball, it was expected that he would quickly land a new managerial gig.

After all, there were plenty of options. The San Diego Padres needed a manager and valued someone with previous experience. They went with Bob Melvin, leaving the Oakland A’s without a manager. The New York Mets fired Luis Rojas and, like the Padres, seek a manager with previous experience.

But Shildt has only interviewed for the Padres opening and has not been connected to either the Mets or A’s openings. It’s clear that he will not manage in 2022, so he is expected to take a job working in the commissioners office in the On-Field Operations department, working under senior VP and former Miami Marlins general manager Michael Hill, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today.

It’s possible that this is a one-year stop for Shildt, who is only 53 and has made the postseason in every season as manager besides 2018. But it stops a fall for Shildt that few, if any people, saw coming. It’s likely that teams had questions about his firing from the Cardinals and were either 1) not able to get questions to those answers or 2) were not satisfied with the answers they received, with president of baseball operations John Mozeliak’s “philosophical differences” comment being a talking point in league circles after the firing.

This will mark Shildt’s first job outside of the Cardinals organization since 2003, so perhaps a change of scenery will be good for him. It’s also possible that in working with Hill, he’s working with his next general manager with a team, considering he has interviewed and been connected to GM openings in the last couple seasons.

For now, however, Shildt will add working in the commissioners office to his resume. The work in this position includes “on-field disciplinary issues and umpiring at both the MLB and minor league levels,” according to MLB Trade Rumors.