Dream Oli Marmol replacement for Cardinals picked up his first career win

The St. Louis Cardinals opted against replacing manager Oli Marmol despite a disappointing finish in the NL Central. St. Louis did not make the postseason, and finished a full 10 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for first place in the division.

John Mozeliak and the Cardinals front office promised changes this winter, though moving on from Marmol is not one of them. St. Louis extended Marmol before the start of the 2024 season and they intend to honor that promise, though the young skipper's future beyond then is anyone's guess.

"Marmol, 38, appears safe in part because president of baseball operations John Mozeliak plans to return for one more season," Ken Rosenthal wrote a few weeks ago. "Mozeliak is not going to hire a new manager one year before owner Bill DeWitt Jr. installs a new front office. The next head of baseball operations should get to make that choice."

In the meantime, the Cards front office is in limbo. Chaim Bloom is likely to usurp Mozeliak as the primary decision-maker, meaning the latter doesn't have much power to make a regime change in the dugout right now. That will be Bloom's job, if he sees fit.

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Potential Oli Marmol replacement, former Cardinals star Albert Pujols wins first game as manager

While most baseball fans were watching the NLCS, Albert Pujols won his first game for Escogido in the Dominican Winter League on Wednesday night. Former MLB'er Junior Lake, who has played in LIDOM for 16 straight years, hit a walk-off home run off 41-year-old Jairo Asencio on Opening Day.

This is Pujols first real managerial experience, so it was smart for the Cardinals not to reach and give him an opportunity just yet. Pujols has expressed a desire to manage in MLB one day, but starting in the DR makes a lot of sense for him. Pujols is a Dominican baseball legend, and can afford to make a mistake or two in the winter league that would otherwise get him skewered in St. Louis, regardless of his Hall-of-Fame playing career.

As Rosenthal mentioned in his piece, the Cardinals issues don't stop at Marmol, which is why a full-scale front office rebuild is likely in a year. While that timeframe will frustrate some baseball fans in St. Louis -- especially those who want to win in 2025 -- the Cards are sticking to their timeline.

"The Cardinals narrowly will avoid losing records in back-to-back full seasons for the first time since 1958-59," Rosenthal continued. "Their issues, however, run far deeper than Marmol, who led the team to 93 wins in 2022, his first season. His contract runs through 2026. He will get at least one more shot."

Marmol is as close to a lame-duck manager as it gets in MLB. Should his team underperform again, Pujols could be on a short list of possible replacements, and for good reason.