9 potential Cardinals managers if Oliver Marmol is fired this season

Oliver Marmol's managerial seat was warm at the end of the 2023 season. While the contract extension that was doled out to him at the end of the season gave him some confidence and assurance, his job security was heavily dependent upon the team's success in his third season at the helm.

A sub-.500 start to the season has opened up the discussion about his viability as a manager. For the second season in a row, the St. Louis Cardinals are off to a rough start. While the offense has sputtered, blame is still typically placed on the coaching staff. Turner Ward, the team's hitting coach, is probably at fault. However, the field manager's name will also be brought up whenever a team performs below expectations.

Should Oliver Marmol be fired this year, the list of potential replacements is deep. Some of these people have connections to the Cardinals organization while others would be outside voices that are wholly unfamiliar with the vaunted "Cardinal Way".

Here are 9 managerial candidates who could replace Oliver Marmol.

Carlos Beltran

Carlos Beltran was close to becoming a manager just 3 years after his retirement. The New York Mets planned to have Beltran be their manager in 2020, but the two parties mutually agreed to part ways due to Beltran's involvement in the Houston Astros cheating scandal in 2017. He never managed a game.

The Mets decided to bring Beltran back on staff in 2023, though in a different role. He has been a special assistant to the Mets general manager Billy Eppler and is now an assistant to the president of baseball operations David Stearns. He is still in that role.

The desire to be a manager is still there for Carlos Beltran; his on-field presence with the team has grown in the last year, and he's traveling with the Mets throughout the year. In a recent interview with the Score, Beltran stated that "I just want to be there and hopefully share my experience with them, and hopefully, it can influence them in a positive way. If someone can make, let's say, an adjustment that allowed him, that player in particular, to improve, that's positive. And that's what motivates me. I'm motivated by that. ... I love to be around."

Beltran's career is marred by cheating in 2017, but he clearly has a high baseball IQ and a desire to work with players of all ages and abilities. His familiarity with the Cardinals organization from his playing time here in 2012 and 2013 plays in his favor.