Oli Marmol's latest pinch-hitting choice baffles Cardinals fans and media

Oli Marmol made a confounding decision in the St. Louis Cardinals' 6-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Aug. 2. With the team down 5-3 in a crucial bases-loaded situation with two outs in the top of the eighth inning, Marmol lifted scheduled hitter Michael Siani and replaced him with the .182-hitting Brandon Crawford, who struck out on four pitches.

After the game, Marmol cited Crawford's 5-for-7 history against the pitcher, Hector Neris, as his reason for turning to the veteran. But it was flimsy reasoning: Crawford's last time facing Neris was in 2019, when he struck out. His last hit against Neris was in 2018, which was an All-Star season for the shortstop.

Marmol had three realistic options that were likely better decisions than turning to Crawford, who is, by all accounts, an excellent clubhouse leader but the Cardinals' unofficial 26th man on the roster. Fans online had cases for all three potential choices.

Option 1 was sticking with Siani, who has hit .432 since July 20. Although he has not fared as well against left-handed pitchers, he was still a notable upgrade from Crawford in that department. Since he started the game, Siani also would have had the advantage of not coming off of the bench cold.

The second potential choice was Nolan Gorman, whom the Cardinals have been noticeably phasing out of the lineup. Despite his plethora of strikeouts, Gorman leads the team in home runs, with 19. He clearly was not injured, as he later replaced Crawford at second base. Gorman would have been a high-risk, high-reward choice, which would have been preferred over the high-risk, low-reward player that is Crawford.

Finally, Marmol could have used Matt Carpenter. Marmol cited previous statistics as his reason for using Crawford, but what about Carpenter's career .438 average with the bases loaded? As with Crawford, Carpenter isn't the player that he once was, but if Marmol is going to pick and choose stats, he might as well go with the one that has a larger sample size.

I have fervently defended Marmol this season, and he has improved significantly in his second go-around at the helm of the Cardinals. Marmol has been faced with plenty of difficult decisions in the Cardinals' boatload of one-run games this season, but this might go down as his worst one of the year.