I’ve waited to give my 2 cents re MM’s firing until I could post on my computer i/o my tablet…my little tablet with the little keys.
Anyway, I really hate to see anyone lose their jobs. But in this case it needed to happen. I haven’t seen anyone dumping the Cardinals’ issues entirely in MM’s lap but there’s an old sports adage about underperforming teams something to the effect that you can’t fire the entire team so the manager needs to go.
That doesn’t mean that I think Matheny was a scapegoat, not even close. Yes, he’s had to deal with injuries (as does every manager) and yes, many of his players don’t produce the way either a Pujols or Holliday in their prime did (not many do). But, holy snickers, look what Stubby Clapp has done at Memphis. That guy has had a whirling revolving door at Memphis since his managerial tenure began as St Louis desperately looked for Big Club help and he manages his pieces and injuries to where the Redbirds are a dominant force in the Pacific Coast League.
One of the oft-repeated compliments about Herzog’s in-the-clubhouse management was that he knew which player responded best to a pat on the tush (so-to-speak) and which one responded best to a kick in the same region. (After all, Andujar might well have been certifiable and how many pitchers leave a clubhouse during the play-offs to fly to their hometown so they can clean the clock of their sister’s ex-boyfriend who was harassing her and then flies back to pitch…looking at you Danny Cox.) That’s a huge aspect of player management. It really came across to we fans as if Matheny had a one-size-fits-all style within the clubhouse and that doesn’t work.
As far as next year’s manager goes, I think much depends on how this season plays out. Shildt’s no filler. He’s a very well-respected man with prior managerial success. Can he do it at the Major League level?
We’ll see.