MLB Rumors: Oli Marmol's hot seat, Tim Anderson dark horse, are the Jays done?

Oli Marmol listed as one of six managers on hot seat entering 2024

The St. Louis Cardinals entered 2023 with high expectations. The team made a tremendous second-half run in 2022 to make it into the postseason, and were looking to make a further run in 2023 in Adam Wainwright's final season. Instead, the team got off to a slow start, and they waved the white flag and decided to sell at the trade deadline, with the chance to improve their chances of contending in the near future.

St. Louis did address their need for starting pitchers this offseason rather quickly, signing Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn, and Kyle Gibson. Thet team does have a potent batting order, led by Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado. Now, it's up to manager Oli Marmol to lead the team to wins and a postseason berth in 2024.

MLB.com's Will Leitch wrote an article listing the managers that are on the hot seat in each division For the NL Central, Marmol was listed as the manager with the hottest seat.

"While it isn’t Marmol’s fault the Cardinals’ pitching imploded, there were many eyebrows raised with how situations with both Tyler O’Neill (since traded) and Willson Contreras were handled," writes Leitch. "The Cardinals invested heavily in their rotation and bullpen this offseason and have much faith in their young lineup to make big steps forward. They plan on winning this division this year, which happens to be the last year of Marmol’s contract. Few managers had a tougher year in 2023 than Marmol did. Few need a strong start to 2024 more."

As Leitch mentions, Marmol is entering the final year of his contract with the Cardinals. He also highlights some of his decisions surrounding Tyler O'Neill and Willson Contreras.

Marmol called out O'Neill for his effort running the bases early on in the 2023 campaign, to which the outfielder said the situation should have been handled privately instead of in public. As for Contreras, Marmol removed him as the starting catcher in early May due to his performance behind the plate. But a matter of days later, Marmol gave Contreras the starting catchers' job back.

In his first season as manager, Marmol showcased why he was one of the top young manager's in the game, leading the team to an NL Central Championship with a 93-69 record. But in 2023, the team finished with a 71-91 record.

The division is pretty wide open entering the 2024 season. If the Cardinals fail to make that leap back into first place and back into the postseason, one has to wonder is Marmol will be given the opportunity to remain as manager with a new contract. The pressure will be on.