MLB
Mike Drop! Cardinals Fire Manager Matheny
It wasn’t your typical Saturday night at 11:15pm cst. For the St. Louis Cardinals, after a Saturday night loss to the Cincinnati Reds, 8-2, in St. Louis the ball club announced that they had fired manager Mike Matheny. This marks the end of the Tony LaRussa protege era, of Mike Matheny’s management of the Cardinals organization. The 47-year-old led the Cards to four straight postseason appearances between 2012-2015, including a World Series appearance against the Boston Red Sox.
Matheny Contract
Matheny spent almost seven seasons with the Cardinals as the club’s manager. He was under contract until 2020. In the interim, Mike Shildt, the club’s bench coach, will take over managerial duties effective immediately. Reports out of St. Louis discuss that the Cards clubhouse was in a state of dysfunction with Matheny, who, sources say, turned a blind eye whenever righty Bud Norris would mercilessly ride other players. Matheny effectively sabotaged his own tenure. His bullpen, which was under-managed throughout this first half of the season, has plunged, now 24th in all of baseball with a 4.52 earned run average.
The top three hitters in Matheny’s starting 9 are hitting .169, (Dexter Fowler) .238 (Tommy Pham), and offseason acquisition Marcell Ozuna, at .268. St. Louis, which was known previously for its defense, has now committed 75 errors on this little-more-than half-season. This leads the majors. In doing so, the Cards have a league lead 39 unearned runs in 2018. These things have regressed under Matheny’s lead, since his debut as Cards skipper in 2012. Management was also reportedly upset at Matheny’s comments in a piece on the Athletic on the state of the club. In addition to his old-time approach to the game. They disavowed his comments and made the executive decision to relieve him of his duties.
Playoffs
The odds of a playoff berth for St. Louis are down to 21%, reports ESPN. The franchise hasn’t missed the playoffs for three straight seasons since 1997-1999. The stability Matheny once presente to the organization when hired no longer seems to be so. The clubhouse is unstable, and the bullpen is the 6th worst in the majors. That, and their overall record of 47-46 with one game to play before the break, mired 7 1/2 games back of the Cubs in third place in NL central division. This display does not seem to befitting of the Cardinals. Matheny finishes his managerial career with St. Louis with a 591-474 record. The 47-year-old accepted responsibility for the Cardinals down seasons of the last two years and the 2018 Cardinals slide. Hitting coaches Bill Mueller and John Mabry were also axed in the firing of Matheny.
Team Was Not Getting Done
The team wasn’t getting it done and Matheny took responsibility upon his leave taking. Matheny, “a super guy…and a great person…” according to Blake DeWitt, the team’s owner, took the high road.
“I realize I have to take responsibility,” Matheny said in his press conference. “When we can’t get things going right, that’s my job. When you have a number of good players and you’ve tried a number of things to get things going, I know who shoulders the blame. The blame falls on my shoulders.”
For the Cardinals part, they felt they had to mirror the Reds action of hiring a manager to produce a ‘shakeup’ in the organization. “Cincinnati is a real good example with how well they’re playing. They decided to make a move early in the year and not to forfeit a season, which I completely agree with.”
That, in part, is why Matheny was dismissed. The Cardinals needed a new voice. Matheny did not deliver on his championship promise. It’s pretty simple. Old school no longer beats new school. Matheny’s continued managing of the organization would’ve been forfeit, and the Cardinals decided as much.
Mike Drop.
