How does Oli Marmol compare to other Cardinal managers?

Summary

I know this is a bit longer than most articles here and I want to thank you for taking the time to get to the end. I didn’t want this to be an article that just says the manager is bad. The thing that makes baseball so special is we have all played it, we understand it, and it is a game that is shared and discussed by generations. We all yell at the television (I know you do) about taking the pitcher out or leaving him in, hit-and-runs, and all the other strategies that are a part of the game. Sometimes our lying eyes deceive us. Sometimes there are valid reasons for what the manager does. But sometimes our eyes aren’t lying.

I went into this exercise with an open mind hoping the data would contradict my feelings. Instead, my feelings were confirmed.

We have really good players. We have a lot of gold glovers. What we don’t have is a good team. After seeing the data it is easy to see why we are so ineffective at scoring runs. After looking at how the bullpen is being used, and the lack of defensive focus I can now see why the pitching is so bad.

My takeaway from this is most of the stats I cited are about in-game decisions the manager of a baseball team has to make and make at the right time. Half of them are not being made at all and the others are being made at the wrong time. The lack of aggressiveness is worse to me than making the wrong move. At least that would show you are trying.

Maybe, just maybe, our eyes aren’t lying after all.

The stats I have cited here are from Fangraphs, Baseball-Reference, Baseball Savant, and change daily.