Post-mortem on Skip Schumaker exit proves Cardinals never had a chance

The St. Louis Cardinals will not fire Oli Marmol barring a winter surprise following the World Series. St. Louis has finished well behind the eventual NL Central winners in back-to-back seasons, which isn't up to the limited expectations John Mozeliak and the Cards front office set for themselves.

It could be argued that Marmol is part of the problem, rather than the solution. He can often be brash with players, and in some cases has even started drama with the media. That doesn't sound like much of a leader to me, but I am also not an MLB manager.

A potential replacement for Marmol were he let go would be former Marlins manager Skip Schumaker, who parted ways with the team due to philosophical differences. To sum up those differences, Schumaker wanted to win while the Marlins were content not spending. That's not a great match.

While St. Louis is willing to spend to give Cardinals fans a winner, they're also an organization in turmoil. The front office is expected to turn over from Mozeliak to Chaim Bloom in the next year, and St. Louis already fired their director of scouting. The job security is...not great at the moment, and Bill DeWitt is running out of patience. To be clear, that's a good thing for Cardinals fans. It means DeWitt is willing to make changes. Yet, those same changes likely would've eliminated any chance St. Louis had at signing Schumaker.

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Skip Schumaker never made much sense with the St. Louis Cardinals

Per Ken Rosenthal, when Schumaker left Miami, the Marlins booted his entire coaching staff out the door and fired 70 staffers overall. That had to sting, and also sent a message to Schumaker. This man needs some stability, even if it's with a franchise in the midst of a rebuild.

One such situation is the Chicago White Sox. The Sox were historically bad in 2024, and won't get better anytime soon. Chris Getz sounds likely to trade Garrett Crochet this winter. The South Siders are literally running out of assets.

What the Sox can offer Schumaker is stability. Getz isn't leaving anytime soon. The next manager should receive a long-term contract, as the White Sox aren't an attractive franchise at the moment. Schumaker also has a connection to Tony La Russa, who he played under and is an advisor for the team.

While the Cards make sense in theory for Schumaker, the reality was far from set in stone.