Ranking the Cardinals top managerial options if they fire Oliver Marmol in season

5. Daniel Descalso

The Cardinals hired former World Series champion Daniel Descalso to be the bench coach for the 2024 season. Descalso played 5 of his 10 seasons in the MLB with St. Louis and was a pivotal role player on some Cardinal teams that won a lot of games in the early/mid-2010s.

After retiring from playing in 2021 he spent last season in the Diamondbacks front office before accepting the bench coach job with St. Louis. This will be his first coaching gig which is why I have him down at number 5 on my list.

But he could move up "the ranks" in the Cardinal organization very quickly. You expect him to have a good relationship with the players and somebody who will bring a different voice to the locker room and the coaching staff. He was teammates with Marmol in the minor leagues in the Cardinals organization and they have stayed in touch since, so they are familiar with each other, also Descalso was teammates with Goldschmidt in Arizona, Arenado in Colorado, and Contreras in Chicago after his playing days with St. Louis ended.

He was on record shortly after his hire saying that he will not be a "yes man" so expect him to bring constructive criticism to the room that'll be a breath of fresh air for everyone. If Descalso wants to manage in the future, he can make his case starting this season, however, at this point, there are some more experienced alternatives to potentially replace Marmol if the Cardinals decide to do so.