Amid Controversies, Cardinals Fire Manager Mike Matheny
To most baseball fans, the firing of Mike Matheny as the Cardinals manager is no surprise. After seven seasons with the team, it appears as though he finally hit the metaphorical wall. His comments made to the press and his disconnect from his players as of late haven’t done him any favors either. The Cardinals executive branch has made that subtly known to the press. Not stopping there, John Mabry, the teams hitting coach, and assistant hitting coach Bill Mueller, were both fired along with their boss. When the Cardinals clean house, they go big.
This kind of move isn’t the norm for the Cardinals. The last time they switched skippers during the season was when they fired Joe Torre in 1995. He, of course, went on to manage the Yankees and become a New York icon, and Jorgensen was serviceable in his task. Matheny had great success with the Cardinals, even taking them to a World Series that was lost to Boston, but with it looking like a third straight year of missing the playoffs, it was decided it was better to start making changes now rather than later. Bench coach Mike Shildt will take over as interim manager and likely finish out the season.
The Cardinals have dismissed Mike Matheny as their manager. It is the first time the Cardinals have changed managers during a season since 1995.
The Cardinals made the postseason in each of Matheny's first four seasons as manager (2012-15), but haven't made it since 2015. pic.twitter.com/GNwo21BWQS
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) July 15, 2018
On the way out, Cardinals Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. kept things positive and had nothing but kind words for Matheny when he spoke with ESPN.
“Mike Matheny has served the St. Louis Cardinals organization with tremendous dedication and pride and I am thankful for his service to the Cardinals over the past six and a half seasons. On behalf of the entire Cardinals organization, I would like to wish Mike the very best.”
There is no arguing the team is under-performing, however most feel that Matheny is part of the reason that is happening. Several sources, including Yahoo! Sports, have reported that Matheny has had strained relationships with key players, including Dexter Fowler. They claim he has also failed to defuse the tension between Bud Norris and Jordan Hicks. Bernie Miklasz, a St Louis radio host, noted in a series of tweets on Twitter, that Matheny was too “old school” about baseball and it was turning off his younger players. He also cited a disconnect with the front office regarding his old school baseball philosophy.
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) July 15, 2018
The favorites to take the helm at the end of the season are currently former Yankees manager Joe Girardi and Marlins coach Tim Wallach. Analysts Jon Heyman and Bob Nightengale have both expressed that Girardi is likely the front-runner, but Wallach also has supporters on Twitter that are making a strong case for him. There are also a few people supporting Shildt for the job on a permanent basis, but that seems unlikely.
