St. Louis Cardinals: 3 manager candidates if Oli Marmol is fired

The St. Louis Cardinals are back in the cellar of the National League after a disastrous, and quite frankly embarrassing, road trip that saw them blow leads in four of the six games.

Let me preface this article by saying that Oliver Marmol is not responsible for all of the problems the Cardinals are going through. This was, and still is, a flawed roster with inadequate pitching that was constructed by John Mozeliak and Mike Girsch. This pitching staff fails to finish batters off, plus a surprisingly inconsistent offense should not be squarely blamed on Marmol.

Now what should be blamed on Marmol? The egregious lack of fundamentals this Cardinals team has lost, the bizarre managerial decisions, and the low morale the players give off. Just look at this dropoff:

This is the most off-kilter Cardinals team we’ve seen since the first half of 2018, and we know how that ended for Mike Matheny. In fact, after their 1-0 win at Texas, this was how they looked high-fiving each other. Does that look like a team with a lot of confidence? 

John Mozeliak gave Oliver Marmol a staunch vote of confidence in an exclusive interview with Katie Woo of The Athletic. This should not surprise you. Mozeliak does not want to fire his third manager since July 2018. So with no inclination to go in a different direction, firing Marmol during the season appears unlikely right now. 

But let’s say the Cardinals do not improve at all for the rest of the season, and we continue to see the current uninspired and unmotivated product on the field. Bill DeWitt Jr and John Mozeliak will not want to go through another season like this and make a change.

If the front office makes a manager change at the end of the season, here are three possible replacements if Oliver Marmol is sacked.