Oliver Marmol Reacts To Critics Falls Out With Biggest Backer John Mozeliak
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol is aware the optics are not great, and he fully realizes that they may get even fuzzier if his team struggles to start the 2024 season.
Such is life as a big league manager when you are coming off a season where his Cardinals finished last in their division for the first time in 33 years. Like the mighty, muddy Mississippi River flowing just a few blocks away from Busch Stadium, the World Series-or-bust expectations never stop in St. Louis — and that urgency has ratcheted up even higher this offseason.
As for those surrounding optics, there sits Marmol, still one of the game’s youngest managers at 37 years old with two seasons of experience as an MLB skipper.
One of those years was robust, especially with how Marmol deftly handled aging superstars Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright. The other season was dreary, with a 71-91 finish in 2023.
Not only is Marmol about to enter the final season of his three-year contract, but the franchise just hired a legendary icon as a coaching advisor (Molina) and a fan favorite and MLB manager hopeful as bench coach (Daniel Descalso).
Marmol’s biggest backer, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak has also openly talked about the franchise needing a succession plan for when Mozeliak moves on following the 2025 season.
Former Rays and Red Sox front office exec Chaim Bloom — arguably the franchise’s third-most significant offseason addition behind Sonny Gray and Molina — is in an advisory role for now.
But it’s not difficult to connect the dots between Bloom and a future job as the Cards’ top baseball boss. If that were to happen, various internal changes could follow.