Cardinals fans are beating a dead horse with the Oli Marmol and Tyler O'Neill drama

Like many Cardinals fans, I was shocked the night that Oli Marmol publicly called out Tyler O'Neill's supposed lack of hustle to the media. I was of the opinion that while O'Neill didn't give his full effort on that play, it would have been better for that to be handled behind closed doors.

While I still stand by that, I've also had a change of heart so to speak. Yesterday, former Cardinal and current Marlins manager Skip Schumaker's comments from Sunday's game went viral. Schumaker called out right-hander Sixto Sanchez for his first-inning struggles and made such comments during his postgame interview.

Josh Jacobs, our site expert here at Redbird Rants made a great point on Twitter, that while Marmol was essentially ripped apart for his comments, Cardinals fans don't seem to be on Schumaker for what he said.

This is what has changed my opinion slightly. While I still think Marmol could have handled the situation better, I've come to the realization that it's well past time for Cardinals fans to move on from that incident.

Cards fans need to let Oli-O'Neill drama go

I see fans all over Twitter talking about Oli's comments from last year. Even now, over a year later. A slight difference between his comments and those made by Schumaker is that the Marlins' skipper acknowledged that he had a productive conversation with Sanchez, while that didn't seem to be the case with Marmol and O'Neill.

But now that Schumaker has won a Manager of the Year Award, Cardinals fans are holding him on a very high pedestal. That's understandable, as he's proven to be a very capable manager, and in my opinion, better than Marmol. But Skip's comments go to show that even the best managers, ones that ardently defend their players, sometimes have to send a message. Such was the case here, and that was also the case with Marmol and O'Neill.

At this point, however, it's time to move on from that incident with O'Neill and Oli. Fans still obsessing over that are beating a dead horse. O'Neill isn't even a Cardinal anymore, and both he and Oli have moved on from this incident. It's time for fans to do the same.

What happened last year isn't important anymore. It's fair for fans to not like the way Oli handled the situation, as he could've certainly handled it better. But what happened then just doesn't matter now.

I'm a firm believer that the Cardinals need a better manager than Marmol and understand being frustrated with him, but those using his comments about O'Neill last year as justification for not liking him need to understand that sometimes managers have to do things that aren't popular, even if it means discussing the mistakes of their players.

Every manager is different. Some prefer to handle these situations behind closed doors, and that might be the best way to do it. But just because a manager does something like this doesn't necessarily mean he's a bad manager who doesn't care about his players.

If you're going to be frustrated Marmol, which again is completely justified, have different reasons to not like him, such as his overreliance on analytics, questionable in-game decisions, or even dare I say it, not having these tough conversations.

It seems that since fans reacted in such an extreme way to his comments about O'Neill, Oli has been afraid to be blunt. Sometimes, that's what managers have to do, even the ones that go out of their way to defend their players. For some reason, fans, including myself had a strong reaction to what Oli said and made it a bigger deal than it really was.

The O'Neill drama is in the past, and it's time for fans to stop beating a dead horse. That situation took place, and now it's over. O'Neill has moved on, as has Marmol. O'Neill himself holds no ill will towards the Cardinals' organization and has made clear that he enjoyed his time here.