3 Cardinals to blame for Pirates sweep and 1 to stay patient with
By Mark Powell
Cardinals to blame: Oli Marmol
How much more obvious can it get that Oli Marmol is not the right fit for this Cardinals team?
Marmol has been disastrous all season long, and hasn’t established a clear identity in his clubhouse. That shows in the on-field product, where Marmol routinely makes stunning decisions which backfire in his face. One of those choices was to remove Jack Flaherty from an outing in which he was absolutely dealing. After taking out Flaherty, the bullpen imploded, leading to the first of three straight losses in Pittsburgh.
Add in blaming Tyler O’Neill for lackluster baserunning early in the season and thus losing the clubhouse, as well as playing with Willson Contreras’s emotions, and this season has been a disaster for Marmol.
Every choice Marmol makes seems to be the wrong one. If St. Louis were to let Marmol go, there are several suitable replacements they could hire right now. Bench coach Joe McEwing would likely get the first shot at managing this team back to relevancy, which may be the exact kick in the butt they need right now. Sometimes, change in leadership can be a good thing. FanSided’s Kevin Henry outlined McEwing’s resume earlier this season:
"“As the St. Louis bench coach, McEwing is seen by many as the right-hand man to Marmol. He also has ties to the organization as a player, spending two seasons in St. Louis in 1998 and 1999. McEwing has experience navigating through difficult times while in Chicago and he has plenty of big league experience as a coach and as a manager. Making the move to McEwing would make sense on a number of levels from an organizational standpoint if the Cardinals were to make a switch.”"
Doesn’t that sound like a breath of fresh air? Frankly, it can’t get much worse than Marmol.