Another Cardinals bench coach is being linked to a managerial gig

The St. Louis Cardinals have had some substantial names fill their bench coach role in recent seasons.

After being promoted to manager of the Cardinals following the 2021 season, Oliver Marmol hired Skip Schumaker to be his own bench coach for the special 2022 season, and Schumaker was then poached by the Miami Marlins that next offseason to become their manager. Marmol was able to get his good friend Matt Holliday to say yes to replacing Schumaker, but after backing out due to a change of heart and desire to spend time with family, Joe McEwing became a late hire for the role.

After the disaster that was the 2023 season, McEwing was reassigned to a role as special advisor to John Mozeliak, and the club was able to bring in another former Cardinal in Daniel Descalso to become their fifth bench coach in four seasons. Now it appears Descalso may be getting an interview for an open managerial role according to New York Post's Jon Heyman.

Heyman reported on Friday that the White Sox have Descalso on their "long list" of managerial candidates, so it remains to be seen how serious their interest truly is.

While the Cardinals were unable to make the playoffs in Descalso's first year in the bench coach seat, he was highly regarded for the role when he was hired and does have experience as a Special Assistant to Baseball Operations with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2023. Descalso seemed to be a much better fit with Marmol compared to McEwing and has been praised for the hard work he's put in to be a bridge between front-office analytics and dugout management.

While the White Sox job is not all that desirable, it would not be shocking to see Descalso take the opportunity seriously, and if all goes well for him, he may be a one-and-done bench coach like Schumaker was, grabbing a job with an underperforming organization as well.

The Cardinals, at least at the moment, only have one change to their coaching staff which has been publicly announced in the departure of Turner Ward. Should Descalso leave, Marmol and the front office will have another significant opening available that can shake up the clubhouse further. There are not any reasons to believe the club would benefit from another new bench coach, but that may be what is coming.