MLB Rumors Yadi 'manager in waiting', O's shock baseball, Yankees blockbusters

MLB Rumors: Cardinals will hire legend Yadier Molina as coveted 'manager in waiting' according to former GM

Though you'd be hard-pressed to find a St. Louis Cardinals fan who's over the moon about manager Oli Marmol returning for the 2024 season after the unmitigated disaster that was the 2023 campaign under his watch. But have no fear, Cards fans -- a longtime hero with the franchise could be just biding his time until he takes Marmol's job, at least according to one former MLB executive.

Jim Bowden of The Athletic ($) had a note for the Cardinals in his long list of 2023-24 offseason predictions that the organization would hire former catcher and fan-favorite Yadier Molina as part of Marmol's coaching staff this offseason, adding that Molina would then become "the most prominent 'manager in waiting' in the sport."

Reports for several weeks now have suggested this is a possibility, and Molina's likely pursuit of an eventual managerial position make sense. The future Hall-of-Fame catcher has spent time in Venezuela as a manager and was at the helm of Puerto Rico during this year's World Baseball Classic.

The bigger question would be if the Cardinals would be the ones to hire him as the manager, ostensibly forcing Marmol to work with his replacement. It's entirely possible as Marmol certainly enters the 2024 season on the hot seat after one of the worst seasons in St. Louis in recent memory and entering a full-scale roster reconstruction this offseason.

Should Marmol show any signs of failure again in 2024 with Molina on his staff, you can bet that Cardinals fans will be quick to push for the former catcher to take over given the success he saw as an integral part of the Redbirds.