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Reds give Cardinals perfect excuse to fire Oli Marmol with latest move

If the Reds can do it, why can't the Cardinals?

By Zachary Rotman

Aug 12, 2024; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; St. Louis Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol (37) argues with home plate umpire Stu Scheurwater (85) in the fifth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images
Aug 12, 2024; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; St. Louis Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol (37) argues with home plate umpire Stu Scheurwater (85) in the fifth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images / Katie Stratman-Imagn Images
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With just five games remaining in the 2024 campaign, the Cincinnati Reds made the decision to fire manager David Bell late on Sunday, opening a very interesting offseason vacancy.

The 2024 season has undoubtedly been a disappointing one for a Reds team that emerged as a legitimate postseason contender in 2023. They've already been eliminated from postseason contention, and if they lose another game, they'll finish under .500 after winning 82 games last season.

What's most interesting about the decision to fire Bell is that the team extended him in July of last season. He was under contract through the 2026 campaign, and the 2024 season was his first full one under the new deal. Despite that, the Reds let him go.

If his extension didn't actually make his job security foolproof, should any? What reason do the St. Louis Cardinals have to hold onto the recently extended Oli Marmol?

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Cardinals have perfect excuse to fire Oli Marmol after Reds let go of David Bell

For reasons that only John Mozeliak and the Cardinals organization can understand, they opted to extend Oli Marmol ahead of the 2024 season mainly to ensure that he wouldn't be considered a lame duck. The Cardinals didn't want to frame this season as a failure on Marmol's end only if they fell short of expectations.

Well, the Cardinals season did fall short of expectations. They'll likely finish with a better record than the Reds, but they'll miss the postseason for a second straight year. It wasn't only Marmol's fault, obviously, but he's made it abundantly clear in his three years at the helm that he does not elevate this roster at all.

The 2024 season didn't go as planned for Cincinnati, but at least Bell has an excuse. Their roster was decimated by injuries the entire season. Matt McLain didn't appear in a single game. Jeimer Candelario, TJ Freidl, and Noelvi Marte all missed significant time on the position player side either due to injury or suspension.

Virtually everyone who started a game this season for the Reds missed at least some time on the IL including All-Star right-hander Hunter Greene.

Every team deals with injuries, but outside of a couple of brutal Willson Contreras injuries, the Cardinals mostly had a healthy roster. The team just underperformed. A lot of that is on the players and John Mozeliak for not performing and building a good enough roster, but Marmol is far from blameless.

If the Cardinals truly believe Marmol is the right guy, it's hard to see why, but so be it. If the Cardinals' rationale for holding onto Marmol past this season is because of his contract, though, that cannot fly among the fan base. The Reds just fired their manager despite having brutal luck all year even though he was recently extended. The Cardinals should've been comfortable doing the same with Marmol, to begin with, but this Reds move ensures that his extension cannot justifiably be used as an excuse.

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