THE REDBIRD REVIEW
I don’t think Cardinals manager Oli Marmol wants to be fired or attempt to be fired. But in a word, this plan he came up with for Jordan Walker is utter nonsense.
On August 12, when the second-year right fielder was recalled to Triple A Memphis after a long stint in the minor leagues, Marmol immediately demoted the right-handed Cardinal to a platoon role where he faced only left-handed pitchers.
How’s that going? Ridiculously bad. Yeah, it’s early and all. But in his professional career, Walker has done well against right-handed pitchers and not so well against lefties. (More on that later.) So far, after being invited back to the major leagues, Walker is 0-for-8 against lefties and 1-for-3 against righties. So let him loose against righties, OK? That’s what Walker does best — minor league, National League, any league.
John Mozeliak, president of baseball operations for the Cardinals, didn’t sound happy about the situation when our friend Tom Ackerman (KMOX) asked him about Walker’s situation.
“He definitely swung the bat well,” Mozeliak said of Jordan’s resurgence in Memphis. “And as far as my philosophy goes — as far as thinking about young players — they really need to play. So ultimately we need to look at what the game plan is, who we’re playing, and come up with a plan.”
“And if we don’t give him the opportunity to bat every day, maybe we need to rethink that.”
Oh boy.
Yes, the head of baseball operations controls the team roster and sets it. The manager controls the roster and sets it. This protocol has been around for a long time. But it’s not that simple. There is usually a give and take on both sides until the manager and the head of baseball find common ground.
Mozeliak’s feelings on this issue are clear: He expects Walker to play. And in my opinion, Mozeliak is absolutely right in his feeling. If Mozeliak had known that Walker would return to St. Louis and sit in the dugout with Brandon Crawford, he would not have made this move. I’m not sure how this situation will play out, but it’s a very interesting Development.
We must remember (as we do) that this is Mozeliak’s manager. “Mo” fired Mike Shildt before the 2022 season and promoted Marmol, who was serving as coach, to replace Shildt in the manager’s chair.
Not only that, but after the embarrassingly bad 2023 season with 71-91, Mozeliak initially said no when asked if he would extend Marmol’s contract before this season. The POBO had set it up as a crucial year for the young manager. And then, out of nowhere, an unexpected turn of events came: Mozeliak changed his mind during spring training and gave Marmol a two-year contract extension.
I suppose the contract extension can be converted into a severance package, but I digress…
What a bizarre and troubling time for the St. Louis Cardinals. I can’t imagine why chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. would put up with this. He doesn’t have to. He owns the franchise.
The Cardinals were once the envy of most other major league franchises. And now they are the object of laughter and “What the hell happened to this juggernaut?” Inquiries.
Well, that’s what happens in sports. The Cardinals got stale and outdated and were among the last to realize it. And it wasn’t easy to maintain success without a Hall of Fame manager who established a winning mentality, very high standards and an exemplary team culture. Look at the Green Bay Packers after Vince Lombardi retired. Replace Lombardi with “Tony La Russa” and you’ll understand the intended allusion.
The list of problems of this STL organization goes beyond the usual storm and stress a manager’s performance. I usually try to defend Marmol against unfair criticism and I always try to keep in mind that he can only work with the squad he has been given. And that squad is flawed.
But don’t you think the Cardinals — despite their flaws — should be better than a team that has the second-worst record in the major leagues (13-21) since July 10? Should this team really be in a disastrous free fall? Shouldn’t the Cardinals be better than a team drifting aimlessly and clearly in danger of a second consecutive losing season? I mean, we saw them post a 33-18 record from May 12 to July 8. Where did this team go?
Even if we think the talent level isn’t enough to succeed at a high level, shouldn’t the Cardinals play a lot harder, show more urgency, deliver more competitive at-bats, and throw themselves into a tenacious, season-saving save? I don’t see that happening. Not much. Not yet. And maybe we should habit Watch it as time runs out for the 2024 campaign.
All of this — including the Walker debacle — is leading to increased scrutiny of Marmol. And no, I’m certainly not leaving Mozeliak out of the equation here. He’s long been criticized by fans and non-dutiful media, but in this specific case, this ongoing Jordan fiasco is more about the manager.
The dysfunctional franchise had no right to call up Walker if the plan was to bench him (as a starter) against right-handed pitchers. So where was the miscommunication? How can such a discrepancy occur?
Mozeliak has always been a firm believer that young players need to play regularly — otherwise there’s just no reason to add them to the big club. Remember how Mozeliak sent young Kolten Wong to the minor leagues when manager Mike Matheny wanted a broken veteran to play second base? Eventually, Matheny got the message… I think.
You don’t just bring Walker back to St. Louis as a platoon hitter; that’s crazy stuff. Walker needs as many reps as possible. Marmol is surely aware of Mozeliak’s preference here, right? And if Marmol goes against management’s wishes…hey, good luck with that. Ask Matheny and Mike Shildt how that turned out.
As far as the pure baseball aspect is concerned, one thing is clear: In Walker’s short major league career, he was far more productive against Right-handed pitching. The same breakdowns apply to Walker in the minor leagues, but I will use Walker’s major league stats to show the difference.
In his major league career, Walker has 151 career batting appearances against left-handed hitters and 393 career batting appearances against right-handed hitters.
- Batting average: .195 vs. LH … .281 vs. RH
- Onbase percentage: .285 vs. LH … .341 vs. RH
- Slugging percentage: .331 vs. LH … .447 vs. RH
- OPS: .616 vs LH … .788 vs RH
Big difference, right?
Confirmation of this can be found in the wRC+ metric (aka Park and League Adjusted Runs Created). In his short major league career, Walker is 29 percent below League average against left-handers and 15 percent about lLeague average against right-handers. What the hell is going on here?
The Cardinals are taking a strange, almost incomprehensible approach with a young hitter who has the talent and potential to be special. My goodness, we saw that last season when Walker, the rookie, had a ..445 batting average and an OPS+ that was 15 percent above the league average on offense. And he was only 21 years old.
The Cardinals probably brought Walker into the major leagues too early, and then they got impatient when the young man started having problems at bat, and now the man who has the lineup card wants to make Walker a part-time player. Hell, Marmol may have been the leader of the cheerleading squad that wanted Walker to come to training camp with the Cardinals in 2023. Side note: Maybe new hitting coaches at the major league level? Or will the good ol’ boys network continue uninterrupted?
Unfortunately, this is where the potential fades. This is where the Cardinals failed to get a number of young outfielders through the inevitable downturns as new hitters.
It is almost as if the manager crazy with young hitters who aren’t good, all the time, from the day they arrive in St. Louis. To make matters worse, we’ve seen many of these out-of-favor young hitters regain their potential on a new team and play up and execute on their talent. Is this happening again?
May I please make a suggestion.
Only two words are needed:
Is anyone sane?
Thanks for reading…
–Bernie
Bernie, who will be inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023, has been offering informed opinions and perspectives on St. Louis sports in his columns, radio shows and podcasts since 1985.
Please check out the new Bernie Miklasz Show channel on YouTube.
Please subscribe and here is the link:
@TheBernieShow
Please follow Bernie on X @b_miklasz and threads @miklaszb
For weekly map talks, listen to the Seeing Red podcast with Will Leitch and Miklasz. It’s available on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow @seeingredpod on X for a direct link. We recorded a new podcast on Monday, August 19th. It’s still fresh!
Statistics used in my baseball columns come from FanGraphs, Baseball Reference, Statcast, StatHead, Baseball Savant, Baseball Prospectus, Brooks Baseball Net and Sports Info Solutions, unless otherwise noted.
Bernie Miklasz
For the past 36 years, Bernie Miklasz has entertained, educated and connected with generations of St. Louis sports fans.
Bernie is best known for his 26 years as lead sports columnist at the Post-Dispatch, but has also written for The Athletic, Dallas Morning News and Baltimore News American. A 2023 inductee into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, Bernie has hosted radio shows in St. Louis, Dallas, Baltimore and Washington DC.
Bernie, his wife Kirsten and their cats live in the Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhood in St. Louis.
