3 in-season replacements for Oli Marmol after Cardinals lose series to lowly White Sox

Things were finally looking up for the St. Louis Cardinals. They won five of seven including a pair of series wins against the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Mets to get to just one game under .500. Their offense was still struggling but their pitching staff, mainly in the bullpen, was carrying the load.

The good vibes that came from that positive stretch are all gone after an embarrassing series loss on their home field against the Chicago White Sox. The Cardinals are now 15-19 on the season and are sitting in last place in the NL West. They still can't hit and it continues to be clear that their manager does not make them any better.

It's not entirely Oli Marmol's fault that the Cardinals are where they are right now, but he's far from blameless. The team did just extend him before the season began, but that does not mean they can't fire him. If things continue to spiral out of control, they absolutely should fire him and try to shake things up. If they do go through with that, any of these three replacements make sense.

3) A Yadier Molina hire can get the Cardinals fan base to buy back in

If anything, this would be more for John Mozeliak to try and save his job. Choosing to fire Marmol is a decision an overwhelming majority of Cardinals fans would support, and replacing Marmol with Yadier Molina would be an even more popular decision.

He doesn't have coaching experience in MLB which would make this hire a risky one, but Molina was always thought of a coach on the field. He was always thought of as a potential manager one day if he wanted it. Since Molina has managed for team Puerto Rico in the WBC and other teams in Venezuela as well, it could work. He wouldn't come in completely blind.

Molina is currently in the organization, serving as a special assistant to Mozeliak, so he knows the team. Since he only retired at the end of the 2022 campaign he's still very familiar with the players around the league. He's been a winner from start to finish. If the Cardinals want to win the respect of the locker room and the fan base again, this is the hire to make.

2) Stubby Clapp would be a safe hire for the Cardinals to make

First base coach Stubby Clapp instantly became a fan favorite among Cardinals Nation when he fought Pete Alonso in a benches-clearing brawl between the Cardinals and New York Mets back in 2022. That kind of passion could be a welcome addition in the manager's chair.

While Clapp lacks MLB managerial experience, he has done plenty of coaching in the minor leagues. He was a hitting coach for many different teams, and has done plenty of managing including for the Memphis Redbirds, the AAA affiliate of the Cardinals.

While managing Memphis, Clapp went 174-107 overall. He was named the PCL Manager of the Year in both 2017 and 2018. He led the Redbirds to back-to-back PCL titles in those seasons, his lone seasons managing the team. So yeah, he's done plenty of winning as well.

Clapp is familiar with the organization and has proven he can manage at an extremely high level in AAA. He's not the biggest name, but this feels like a safe hire that the Cardinals can make if they choose to go in another direction.

1) Skip Schumaker is the dream hire to manage the Cardinals

Here's the dream hire. Is it likely? Absolutely not. Skip Schumaker is managing the Miami Marlins. However, it feels like there's a non-zero chance that this can happen. The odds are slim, but they don't feel like none.

Schumaker, of course, is already a Cardinals legend. He spent eight years as a player for the Cardinals playing a variety of positions and being a key leader in the clubhouse alongside Molina. He wasn't nearly as good of a player as Yadi, but clearly, his baseball mind is very sharp.

He was hired to manage the Marlins ahead of the 2023 season and excelled in his first season on the job, taking an undermanned Miami team to the postseason. He did so thanks in large part to a 33-14 record in one-run games. A manager has to push the right buttons for teams to win one-run games at that clip, and Schumaker did just that. He was the NL Manager of the Year, and deservingly so.

Despite all of his success, the Marlins agreed to void the club option in Schumaker's contract during the offseason. With Miami going nowhere quickly, Schumaker will almost certainly be up for a new role. This would involve Miami firing Schumaker or making him available, but if Schumaker is interested in the Cardinals opening, they should do whatever it takes to get him aboard. He has his connections to this organization and has proven he's an elite manager.