Oliver Marmol’s managerial seat was warm at the end of the 2023 season. While the contract extension that was doled out to him at the end of the season gave him some confidence and assurance, his job security was heavily dependent upon the team’s success in his third season at the helm.
A sub-.500 start to the season has opened up the discussion about his viability as a manager. For the second season in a row, the St. Louis Cardinals are off to a rough start. While the offense has sputtered, blame is still typically placed on the coaching staff. Turner Ward, the team’s hitting coach, is probably at fault. However, the field manager’s name will also be brought up whenever a team performs below expectations.
Should Oliver Marmol be fired this year, the list of potential replacements is deep. Some of these people have connections to the Cardinals organization while others would be outside voices that are wholly unfamiliar with the vaunted “Cardinal Way”.
Carlos Beltran was close to becoming a manager just 3 years after his retirement. The New York Mets planned to have Beltran be their manager in 2020, but the two parties mutually agreed to part ways due to Beltran’s involvement in the Houston Astros cheating scandal in 2017. He never managed a game.
Matt Holliday was one of the best players to play in the 2010s for the St. Louis Cardinals. He was a fan favorite. The Cardinals originally hired Holliday to be the bench coach late in 2022 after Skip Schumaker signed to manage with the Miami Marlins. Holliday stepped down from that role in January of 2023 before making a single appearance with the team.
After being hired in November, Holliday stated that he wanted to spend more time with his family, but the opportunity to manage was something that he didn’t want to pass up. “Obviously, with my kids I wanted to be home and around them as much as possible — and still do — but this was an opportunity that I wanted to pursue and it’s an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”
His feelings on the situation changed soon after, however. Holliday’s departure was simply for “family reasons”, but it’s assumed that he wanted to see his sons begin their professional careers. His eldest, Jackson Holliday, is the top prospect in baseball and recently made his MLB debut.
Holliday’s interest in managing is still present; Bob Nightengale reported as recently as September that Holliday is interested in managing in “the next few years”. If Marmol is fired, and if the Cardinals can convince the 42-year-old former player to come manage, he would be a great fit.
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