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Of course, Goold is not going to rule out the possibility of Clapp joining the MLB staff. He most likely has no more idea what will happen with the coaches in the off-season than us, however.
If it happens, my best guess is that George Greer heads back to leading the minors hitting instruction and Clapp becomes assistant hitting coach. But that is a wild guess.
“I think the Cardinals have the right guy in Mike. I think, to me, in my opinion, they should decide now and make him the manager. He’s a real good one. I don’t think they should miss him.” – Jose Oquendo on Mike Shildt. More here: https://t.co/cfv3dBUGhg #STLCards
— Ben Frederickson (@Ben_Fred) August 17, 2018
This article has spurred a lot of discussion over whether Shildt should be named permanent manager now, rather than waiting until the end of the season to decide. What do you think?
Boy that Bernie M. can sure ramble can’t he. Much of the reasons can be attributed to the better quality of players on the roster now.
MM had to put up with a different group of malcontents that Mozeliak kept sending him: five different closers that contributed negatively in the bullpen, and a couple of overrated and overstated OFs that didn’t produce as advertised. When Schlitz showed up so did a few of the Memphis boys that have pumped new life into the team that was boring as hell. And Carpenters breakout can’t be attributed to our new manager. As a matter of fact, most of the reasons given by Mislasz can’t be linked to the new skipper.
It made me angry to read this…. give credit only when due. Bernie had a death wish for Matheny so the story is way overly biased. Take it from where it came from.
I like what I’ve seen of Shildt so far and I think he probably would be a good manager for a longer term. At the same time I see no need to rush into anything. It’s not like there is a big competition for his services. Let’s see how things play out for the rest of the season and keep our options open. Let’s see if this new aggressive style of play continues and can be more directly attributed to him. I, for one, am particularly pleased with his more or less steady lineup and better bullpen usage.
Disagree 14N. If Mm was still the manager the cards would be below .500 team right now. He just wasn’t very good and didn’t matter who was on the team hisnusing of guys was bad. Whilst has brought life to the team and a different feel to each game by trying to produce more runs. The team is better right now becuase MM isn’t managing them!
The man with the checkbook – aka the only vote that matters – weighs in.
"Hard to imagine he could do any better than he's done so far. He's done everything that we could possibly have asked for."#STLCards principal chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. offered a glowing assessment of the job Mike Shildt has done as interim manager: https://t.co/jTv1TMicLW
— Jenifer Langosch (@LangoschMLB) August 18, 2018
Goold also wrote about this, which includes a comment that DeWitt credits Shildt for the team’s turnaround.
DeWitt came to view Shildt as he did prospects — rising, being tested, advancing. And he heard reports of Shildt’s promise just as he did a young player. How the #stlcards current manager can make the team decide not to have a Manager search … https://t.co/UnFKizdHRG
— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) August 18, 2018
It would probably wise for Greer to go back to hitting coordinator. We have more promising young hitters than I can remember and they need someone like Greer to fine tune them. Nunez, Montero, Gorman, Cedeno, de los Santos, Torres, Herrera, Soler, Mendoza, Y Gonzalez, Machado, Woodall, Baker, Carlson and others.
During the FS1 telecast Saturday night, Ken Rosenthal talked out of both sides of his mouth. He warned of the possibility that the way the team is playing now may not be reflective of how they will play once the newness is over. But he also brought up Brian Snitker of the Braves, who had a comparable background and got the interim tag removed.
He also said that a manager who was never a professional player may have trouble getting the respect of his team, but then quickly acknowledged that Shildt had already managed many of the players in the minors. Also noted Shildt has Molina’s support.
Tom Verducci said Shildt is just the eighth manager in MLB history to have never played a game as a professional. One of the earlier seven was Ted Turner. The interesting fact is that none of the preceding seven had a winning record as a manager. But he said he likes how Shildt is doing.
The #STLCards win yet again, beating the #Dodgers, and are 16-4 this month, now just 2 1/2 games back. Incredibly, in just one month, interim manager Mike Shildt has put himself squarely into the National League Manager of the Year conversation
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) August 22, 2018
Baseball can be a streaky game. I don’t yet know whether I would think it is all about Shildt. I do think it has helped that someone saw fit to revamp the bullpen and get Fowler out of the lineup—and outfield. I do like the fact that DeJong healed, and Wong is at second base. I like having Bader in center, and Martinez anywhere.
I am also impressed that we keep bringing up pitchers who keep winning critical games as though we had Gibson and Carlton as a one-two punch, except that with Mikolas, Poncedeleon, Gomber, Flaherty, and Gant, I’m almost dreading what might happen if Wainwright, C. Martinez, and Reyes get healthy. We just won two in LA against what appeared to be a playoff-bound team with Gomber and Ponceleon who wouldn’t be here if not for injuries.
I am still frustrated that we have a bunch of hitters who strike out with the bases loaded and nobody out or fail to move runners over because they are too busy striking out. Yet, somehow, they seem to do just enough in most games to get five runs and a win. Since the bullpen has some element of stability now, five runs seems to be enough on most nights.
Is this all just pure luck? What part of this reorganization was due to Shildt? This team is now competitive with the best.
If we didn’t walk so many and strike out so often, this might be THE team. We walked nine LA hitters and won in their house?
Leave the “Interim” on his title. No hurry.
Brent Musburger once stated it was a good idea to give his players a quest in response to the same issue facing Michigan’s basketball team–the AD had, immediately, fired the current head coach upon learning he was leaving for ASU as soon as the season was over–prior to the NCAA Final Four in 1989.
But the FO needs to move quickly, after the WS, if they want to retain his services for the long term.
Now that the team is playing better with the addition of the rookies from Memphis, the perception will be that our manager is part of that success. I think that the skipper will be brought back simply for that reason. Why change a good thing.
It should be noted that he hasn’t been through a dry spell. Draw your own conclusions.
Sounds like Shildt can’t catch a break with some people. If we had gone 18-17 since the change we would be talking about who the next manager will be and how it wasn’t Matheny’s fault after all because this groupd of players just doesn’t have it. Instead, Shildt has gone 24-11 and we basically hear that anyone could have done this because of the changes the FO made. Give me a break!
Ben Frederickson sums this up nicely:
I’ve noticed a bit of a divide among sportswriters in town about whether the majority of the credit should go to Shildt or the roster changes. Obviously it is some of both, but where do you fall on this debate? What is the single biggest (not sole) reason for the turn around. Thanks
by Dewittsrings August 21 at 4:47 PM
PermalinkBiggest? Shildt. I’ve tried to capture that in the columns I have written since the surge. A list of examples include: more aggressive in-game decision making, reclaimed edge at home, offensive resurgence based off a smarter philosophy and acknowledging the same old thing wont’ always work; better at-bats with two strikes AND two outs; better defense and more work being done, especially by veterans, to sharpen said defense; a better vibe around the team and in the clubhouse; better explanations of moves made and not made, which appeals to a fan base that is as locked in as this one is; multiple times Shildt has straight out-managed another manager, like when he deked Davey Martinez into calling in a lefty so he could send up Patrick Wisdom, who hits well against LHP; and then the players’ comments. “Night and day” one told me. And Jose Oquendo raves about the difference. So, yeah, I think a lot of it can be pointed directly to Shildt, and his style compared to his predecessor.
by BenFred August 21 at 4:51 PMFor those who continue to believe that this Cardinals surge is primarily due to the bullpen changes by the FO I will give you another thing Shildt has done that doesn’t get talked about as much. That would be moving Yadi to the second spot in the lineup. To me that was a brilliant move. He and Carp are a devastating one two punch at the top and it really lengthens the lineup.
That move has nothing to do with the FO and is a move MM wouldn’t have done.
I dunno. To me, Tommy Pham was the ideal two-hitter whereas I don’t like Bader there. Once Pham was traded, there was a hole in the lineup. Molina has batted there before and I’ve seen fans rake Matheny over for doing it.
I was a little surprised by that comment, so I went back and looked at Molina’s splits. As far as I can tell, prior to Shildt, Molina had not batted second since 2014, when he did it in just four games. So if Matheny was criticized for it, it would have been a long time ago.
P.S. As the no. 2 hitter this season, Molina has slashed .291/.345/.437/.782 with 19 RBI in 38 games. What is not to like about that?
Tom Verducci said Shildt is just the eighth manager in MLB history to have never played a game as a professional. One of the earlier seven was Ted Turner. The interesting fact is that none of the preceding seven had a winning record as a manager.
I read this and thought of Joe McCarthy, who was, and perhaps still is the standard barrier for the great manager who had never played in the majors. Not sure what Verducci is talking about, as Marse Joe had a .615 winning percentage in 24 years as a manager. Walt Alston is another who should be included as a non-big-league-player who managed, although technically he “played” in the bigs, getting exactly one AB, with the Cardinals no less, and striking out.
As for the interim tag, I leave it as is and make the decision after the season has concluded. Shildt is not going anywhere until he hears whether or not the Cardinals are going to hire him full-time. He will give the club right-of-first-refusal in other words.
He deserves a lot of the credit for this turn-around. He seems to be a more logical baseball man than Matheny. Matheny made so many head-scratching decisions over his tenure, from the way he used his roster, to the revolving batting orders, and then the reportedly coolness in the clubhouse. He got away with it because the team won for a few years, but once the momentum started going the other way in that 2015 post season series against Chicago, things got tense.
Where I thought Matheny had finally lost it was the experiment to move Kolten Wong to the outfield. After that, while I appreciated Matheny as a class act, he just seemed to be lost when it came to running a ball club.
It is not just that Shildt didnt play in the majors but that he didnt play professionally at any level. The others played in the minors.
Maybe it was when Matheny batted Molina 3rd or 5th. I don’t have BR.com at work, but i remember vividly folks being upset about Molina batting high in the lineup. I mean, just this season, people whined about it during Molina’s slow start.
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