Matheny to be named Cardinals Manager

[foxfire123]

Per KMOV's FB page:

Breaking: Mike Matheny, former Cardinal catcher, will be named Cardinals Manager on Monday at Busch Stadium.

Despite him being a Cards player, I have a lot of respect for Matheny, but a complete rookie for a *Major League* manager? We'll see.

[LegallyMinded]

I'm interested to see what this does to Pujols's thought process. Last I saw, he preferred Jose Oquando for the job. Perhaps the Marlins' offer will look more appealing if he feels the Cards are disrespecting his wishes.

Of course, I can't imagine playing for Ozzie Guillen is preferable to playing for Mike Matheny, so perhaps this doesn't change much after all.

[10xWSChamps]

Albert never really expressed a preference at all. After LaRussa retired, he hasn't really said much. Before then, there wasn't any point in expressing a preference.

Matheny is supposed to be a real leader among men, those types of intangibles he is said to have. I guess we'll see how it works out in the long term. I do trust the Cardinals GM and ownership though, they haven't made too many wrong decisions in the past 17 seasons.

[foxfire123]

I dunno, I'd call the Holliday trade a little questionable.....

And according to the Post Dispatch--don't ask me to quote which day/sportswriter/whatever because I can't remember those detail--Puhols expressed "support" for Oquendo.

Matheny's smart, well respected and has potential to be a heck of a manager. But to throw him in at the major league level and expect results? He may be a student of the game, but this isn't a feel good kids movie like Little Big League. this is the real deal.

[joe51391]

I think this is where the downward spiral begins for the cards

[bounty37h]

That sucks, I actually like Matheny.

[10xWSChamps]

Originally Posted by foxfire123

I dunno, I'd call the Holliday trade a little questionable.....

And according to the Post Dispatch--don't ask me to quote which day/sportswriter/whatever because I can't remember those detail--Puhols expressed "support" for Oquendo.

Matheny's smart, well respected and has potential to be a heck of a manager. But to throw him in at the major league level and expect results? He may be a student of the game, but this isn't a feel good kids movie like Little Big League. this is the real deal.

The Holliday trade isn't questionable in the slighest. Not sure if you're being sarcastic, but the centerpiece of that deal, Brett Wallace, (also once the centerpiece of our farm system) has seen his value go way downhill since that trade. He got traded again to the Astros where he's played at the big league level and he hasn't done anything at all there.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pl...allabr01.shtml

Even if Holliday didn't re-sign it would have been worth it as he helped to get us into the playoffs and none of those three players would be helping the Cardinals the past two years or even be close to making the big league team.

It's known that Pujols is friends with Oquendo, but he has not said anything regarding who the Cardinals should hire. At all.

I imagine that unless Oquendo gets a managerial job, that he'll be retained as the third base coach anyway. Not to mention that Matheny played with Albert for four seasons and coached in spring training the past few years, so keep in mind that Matheny and Albert already have a relationship too.

[Swampturkey]

Pujols probably wouldn't have any issues with playing for Matheny. In fact, just last week the two took a trip to the Dominican Republic together. Pujols opened up a little league ball field down there. Matheny took a group of kids down there to play a few games on it.

There is not a single person on this planet who doesn't like, or at least respect Mike Matheny.

[brm7675]

Wow so far two of the Manager openings have been filled with guys with zero major league experince as a coach or manager...or even minor league managing experience

[LegallyMinded]

Originally Posted by brm7675

Wow so far two of the Manager openings have been filled with guys with zero major league experince as a coach or manager...or even minor league managing experience

This would seem to support the general proposition that managers are valued not for their strategic decisions, but for their ability to manage people. That is, teams aren't looking for people who have demonstrated tactical brilliance with their extensive managerial experience; instead, they're looking for people who their players will respect and who they believe will create positive clubhouse atmospheres.

As far as I know, this fits with the general research on the subject of managerial moves: Even seemingly big decisions like batting order only have a tiny impact over the course of a season, and so it seems more important to find a manager who can keep players happy than who can statistically optimize every decision.