Ollie

[SoonerinNC]

I have never been a big fan of Ollie but have to admit he has grown as a manager.

He seems to relate well to his players
His lineups are more consistent
The local press seems to be all for him, but it has always been a friendly press to the Cardinals
He seems to have Bloom’s confidence

My lingering concerns are:
The hitting coach situation. Albert was gone after one seaason when Shildt was fired over wanting him gone or at least that was the story. Now Brown is gone after Ollie raved about him all season.

His obsession with handednes. It causes him to take 2 or three starters out of a game. Sometimes a left handed hitter will hit a left handed pitcher better than a right handed replacement. Of course it is a good time for needed days off.

Playing injured players. Weatherhold may still be rookie of the year and secure that extra draft choice, but had he been IL’d when he became injured he surely would have come close to his first half numbers when he recovered. With all of the technology a manager should be able to know a player is losing batspeed, exit velocity, running speed. Weatherholt was basically out in September and various reports indicated injuries to Walker, Burleson and Winn. A bad month should not have been a suprise.

He is often complemented on his handling of the bullpen. I don’t agree. Again his obsession with handedness causes him to use a lot of relief pitchers and they were clearly gassed by the end of the season. Also he seems to refuse to use his high leverege relievers in a close game when behind and often sends a raw untested guy out there in the 7th and 8th inning when only one or two runs behind. I remember one occasion where he used a pitcher making his major league in that type of situation. And he often uses a weaker guy like Svanson and when he gets in trouble uses someone like Graceffo who obviously available. In fairness, however, we fans often don’t know who is available.

I am not saying dump Ollie, but I question that he is the guy to get us deep in the post season.

What do some of you think?

[1toughdominican]

I hope I’m wrong but, in my estimation, the Cardinals will never win anything with him as their manager. He’s simply out of his league and doesn’t possess the abilities to manage a Big League baseball team in a manner that will consistently produce W’s. Not going to happen with this guy.

[mudville]

I don’t think Patrick Murphy is a particularly good manager, but he’s going to be getting a World Series ring. Go figure. I want Yadi to manage our Cardinals. But that doesn’t seem likely for some reason. I sure would hate to see Enos hire Yadi to manage the Angels.

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