Two Cardinals legends may be interested in managing the team, per report

The St. Louis Cardinals are on the edge of needing to make major changes to their organization, including the potential move of firing current manager Oli Marmol. According to a new report from the New York Post's Jon Heyman, club legends Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina may be interested in the gig.

Let me start by saying, this report feels a lot more like "connecting dots" than legit movement. Although Mamrol's seat is as hot as it ever has been, and many fans would love to see a change as soon as possible, it's still entirely possible that Marmol will continue to manage this team for the remainder of the 2024 season and potentially beyond that.

But at the same time, things are dire in St. Louis, and if ownership wants to make sure fans are attending games this season, bringing back one of their most iconic players in franchise history in either Pujols or Molina to manage could do the trick.

As Heyman noted, both Molina and Pujols have expressed interest in managing at some point. Molina is currently an advisor to President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak but has still not shown up in an official capacity after the club hoped he'd have a significant role this year. It is no secret that Molina wants to manage someday, but it's not entirely clear if he's going to be able to fulfill that commitment any time soon.

Pujols expressed his own interest in managing, already landing a gig in the Dominican Winter League to begin building his experience like Molina has as of late. Should the Cardinals' job open up soon or following the 2024 season, I'd imagine both men would strongly consider making the leap.

Still, at this point in time, this remains highly speculative and contingent on many things. First, the club would actually have to part ways with Marmol, and in doing so, it seems likely they'd have to make strong considerations in moving on from Mozeliak as well. Those are franchise-altering decisions, and I'm not sure they would thread that needle while also hiring one of those guys all in the middle of a season.

Second, regardless of who the President of Baseball Operations is, it's clear that Mozeliak will not be in that role beyond the 2025 season, so that has to be considered as well. If Chaim Bloom were to take the gig, would he prefer a more established manager like Skip Schumaker? Only time will tell.

And of course, the Cardinals would be at the will of Pujols and/or Molina and their willingness to jump in with this club. Again, I bet both of them would have a strong interest, but again, unless movement actually occurs, that's hard to really know for sure.