Oli Marmol contract extension hasn't stopped speculation of Cardinals firing

There probably wasn't a St. Louis Cardinals fan on the planet who was expecting manager Oli Marmol to be on anything other than the hot seat for the 2024 MLB season after the debacle that was the 2023 campaign. So it was a surprise to almost everyone when the franchise doled out a two-year contract extension for Marmol prior to Opening Day.

Now that we're two series into the season, that's beginning to look like an even more questionable decision by John Mozeliak and the Cardinals front office than it was already perceived to be.

After dropping the series finale to the Padres, St. Louis has started the season out at a measly 3-4. There is still plenty of time to recover from that, to be sure, but it's certainly not the way a team that lost 91 games a year ago wanted to start out a bounce-back campaign. And we're already seeing Marmol's decision-making be called into question, even as early as the first series of the year against the Dodgers.

Oli Marmol's extension with Cardinals won't stop the rumblings to fire manager

Mason Keith of Redbird Rants highlighted that Marmol rested three stars (or rising stars) for the Cardinals in an eventual loss to the Dodgers in the opening series of the season, Willson Contreras, Jordan Walker and Masyn Winn, for scheduled off days that he wanted to honor. But as Keith points out, they needed that rest because Marmol used them so heavily in spring training.

"Marmol''s reasoning for giving these players rest days is due to them playing in over 30 straight games during Spring Training. Well if that's hindering your players stamina, then maybe save their energy for the regular season? The Cardinals are in a desperate position to start the season off strong given the pressure amounted from their terrible 2023 season. When you start your season off against the biggest juggernaut in baseball in the Dodgers, you want all hands on deck to put yourself in the best position to win. But instead, Marmol is worried about burning out his players, when they are 20 year old prospects who are more than capable of withstanding a full season of play."

Those points are all extremely valid and, without question, Marmol should be the target of criticism for those decisions. That's especially true given that the Cardinals manager routinely was under fire during last season's disaster for his lineup construction, usage, and inconsistency. Now we're only a week or so into the 2024 venture and we're seeing it again, only this time, Marmol has a contract extension for reasons that look even more perplexing now than before.

So much of the bitter disappointment from Cardinals fans last season was that the team as constructed seemingly should've been miles better than they were, which feels like an immediate indictment of the manager, Marmol in this case, for not maximizing the talent in the building. Even with reinforcements being brought in for 2024, it might still be more of the same.

What does that mean for Marmol in the long run? Not too long ago, it would've been an easy case for him to be fired if this type of management from him continues. But armed with extension with the ink still fresh from a month ago, it only creates more confusion about the Cardinals' future and if Marmol will be part of it.