Cardinals: Oli Marmol’s managerial mistakes involve Adam Wainwright, Yadier Molina

St. Louis Cardinals manager Oli Marmol is getting his mistakes out of the way early. Fortunately, they involve veterans Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina.

If Marmol is to make any mistakes this season, it’s best for them to involve the likes of Wanwright and Molina, two players who will understand their young manager and won’t take matters personally.

Marmol learned from the likes of Mike Shildt — a veteran manager who got a crash course in dealing with clubhouse conflict.

The first of these two mistakes came on Friday, in which Marmol

pulled veteran starter Adam Wainwright

with two runners on and No. 9 hitter Jackie Bradley Jr. slated to come up. Rather than trusting Wainwright — who appeared surprised by Marmol’s decision to pull him — Marmol went with T.J. McFarland. A three-run home run soon followed, and the Cards lost, 6-5.

On Saturday, Marmol’s tricky comment about a lineup without star catcher Yadier Molina might’ve been a subliminal shot at the all-time great:

“I think that’s our best lineup,” Marmol said, with Molina conveniently missing.

Cardinals: Oli Marmol is still learning the ropes

Was Marmol wrong to pull Wainwright? Revisionist history provides me with an easy opportunity to say “yes,” but in the moment it wasn’t so obvious. McFarland is a capable reliever who quite simply didn’t have his best stuff for that moment.

Making untimely comments that could be perceived as a shot at Molina, however, is squarely on Marmol. Yadi has not been the best version of himself at the plate this season, that much is obvious. But to essentially say so out loud is a lesson in what to admit to the media, and what to keep in the clubhouse.

Considering these two hiccups involve Wainwright and Molina, surely nothing will come of it. Were the Cards a younger team — or a less-seasoned one at that — the end result could be far different.

It’s mid-June, and this is Marmol’s first big-league managerial gig. He’ll learn and grow from it, even if Cards fans don’t see transparency as a mistake at all.