Cardinals fans' blame towards manager Oliver Marmol is misguided

The St. Louis Cardinals started the 2025 season with an exciting sweep on the first weekend of the year and, despite his team sitting in first place in the NL Central, manager Oliver Marmol is already coming under fire for his managerial abilities. Maybe a lame duck manager, as both Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols appear ready for their chance to run a team, Marmol is tasked with creating a competitive team with the players that ownership has provided him. A quick reminder here that Marmol is not the one who signs, trades, or releases players, so he has to work with the personnel that ownership gives him.

Now, I may be missing something, but in my 30 years of attending baseball games and playing low-level professional baseball, I have yet to see an MLB manager who takes the field and plays in a game. While they are tasked with setting lineups and making in-game decisions, it is ultimately up to the players to perform. This is why I have a hard time placing blame (or giving props) to managers after the outcome of a game. Sure, they can make what is deemed a right or wrong move, but they never make a decision thinking it is not going to work. With a staff of coaches and a plethora of information available in the dugout, substitutions are made based on analysis of the current situation with the hopes of it paying off.

The Cardinals' first loss of the season to the Angels on Monday showed just that. Marmol trotted out a new lineup in the team's first game against a lefty starter and immediately looked like a genius with Lars Nootbaar and Brendan Donovan hitting homers and Luken Baker reaching base three times. Miles Mikolas, whom many (not me) wanted to be sent elsewhere, pitched extremely well and gave the team a chance to win, leaving the game with a 3-1 lead in the sixth inning.

While the Cardinals dropped another game on Tuesday, I want to home in specifically on the feedback from Monday's game and how fans seem to be looking for any reason to criticize Marmol.

Marmol's decisions are already being second-guessed just four games into the season.

So, to break down the loss and how this cannot be placed squarely on the manager, who again did not throw, hit, or field a ball during the game, here's a look at the so-called "questionable" decisions he made.

Pulling Miles Mikolas in the sixth inning

This one I truly do not understand how this is under any consideration as a mistake by Marmol. As mentioned, the majority of fans wanted Mikolas DFAd and far away from St. Louis. Well, Mikolas pitched very well in his first start, covering 5.1 innings and allowed only four baserunners before giving way to Chris Roycroft. Mikolas' 80 pitches were the most thrown by any starter this year and he is the second one to pitch into the sixth after Erick Fedde did in his first start. Oh, and Mikolas was scheduled to face all-world talent Mike Trout for the third time. Marmol made the calculated decision to bring in a fresh reliever to face the superstar rather than have Mikolas keep battling after allowing two hitters to reach. Somehow, Cardinals Twitter was shocked by the move, saying Marmol should have kept Miles in the game. The same guy they wanted off the team less than a month ago. Roycroft allowed a run to score but kept the Cardinals in the lead heading into the bottom of the sixth.

Pedro Pages replacing Ivan Herrera

Again, another move that is taking unwarranted scrutiny. Herrera's defensive limitations have been well documented to this point despite his offseason work at Driveline. While Herrera is seen as the better hitter, Pages has held his own with the bat in spring training and, less than 24 hours before, fell a triple short of the cycle in a big offensive performance. The argument is that it was too early to switch to the defensive alignment in the sixth inning. The early move shows that either Pages' offense is not all that far behind Herrera's or Herrera's defensive woes are larger than expected. Either way, the move made sense at the time and a day after.

Using Helsley in the ninth inning

Excuse me, what? Putting in one of the best relievers in all of the MLB to keep the game tied in the ninth inning is questionable? If Marmol did not put Helsley into the game and the Cardinals gave up a run in the inning, I can almost guarantee the same people who are complaining about this move would be arguing that Helsley should have been in the game then. It is very common practice for managers across all of baseball to use their closers in tie games with the hopes their team can walk it off in the bottom half of the inning. Helsley did exactly what he needed to do, keeping the game tied 3-3 heading into extras. Not sure what would have been better here.

Not using Nolan Gorman to pinch-hit for Masyn Winn

Yes, the same Nolan Gorman that fans were wanting to be traded, DFAd, or demoted after a tough spring training. "But Scott, he hit a homer yesterday!" Oh, you mean the same way that Pages did but also should not have been put into the game? Sure. That's without reminding of the fact that the team shockingly does not have a true backup shortstop and expects Brendan Donovan to step in whenever Masyn Winn needs an off day. Also, Donovan (not Marmol) made a questionable defensive decision with the bases loaded in the 10th and the game could have gone a different way if he made the right choice. I understand that Winn is 0 for the season, but that moment in the 10th inning is one that the team needs Winn to perform in if they expect him to be the focal point for the future.

I am constantly amazed by the negativity on Cardinals social media, especially since expectations for the 2025 season were at an all-time low. Now that the team won its first three games, apparently that means they should win every game, and if they do not, it's the manager's fault, not the ones who actually played. Fans are allowed to fan however they want, so I am not here to tell you how to act, but egregiously placing blame on someone who does not take an at-bat, throw a pitch, or field a grounder is confusing to me.