Should the Cardinals consider hiring Yadier Molina to be their next manager?

Hiring a guy without MLB managerial experience... what could go wrong?

I respect the heck out of Yadier Molina. He’s one of the greatest examples of sports and hard work enjoying a long marriage together. His fire on the field and mad dog desire to win was a signature element of his appeal. The ability to come into one of the most well-respected organizations in the game and become arguably the most revered catcher of all time is nothing short of tremendous. I do want him to return to the St. Louis Cardinals in some capacity soon, but should he just walk right in and become manager?

NO. That’s a polite way of saying it. Wednesday morning on The Morning After, the most popular radio show in St. Louis, Bengie Molina told Tim McKernan and company that Molina would love nothing more to become manager of the Cardinals. They are his first choice, but they aren’t his only choice… or option. According to Bengie, Molina already has offers to manage. While I find it initially hard to believe, Brad Ausmus and Mike Matheny defy those beliefs.

Matheny didn’t have a single iota of MLB coaching or managing experience when he was hired to succeed Tony La Russa in 2012 as the Cardinals manager. It didn’t marinate into people’s brains until the team crashed a few years later. Mike Shildt was hired to fix a broken team, and he did. But he must have rubbed people the wrong way or said the wrong things, because he was abruptly fired after the 2021 season.

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Oli Marmol, like Shildt, was hired without any big league manager experience, a tactic that has resulted in a single winning record in three seasons. Unlike Matheny, Shildt and Marmol were bench coaches and minor league managers before they got the big job, but the trend abides. The idea is worn and torn, ripped to shreds by over a decade of attempts. Molina can be white hot Redbird shit, and still would be a shitty choice to take over for Marmol when the front office eventually sacks him.

Unless they don’t, and Marmol endures to stick around as manager for the next playoff-contending Cardinals team. While I doubt that (Chaim Bloom will wait a bit before firing the bullet), it’s not an insane possibility. Marmol will remain cheap for a while, which helps St. Louis. What does Molina offer the current roster, outside of being Yadier fucking Molina, apart from Marmol?

If the Cardinals had a soup-to-nuts pennant-assured roster, this would be a different conversation. If they hadn’t fired this missile three times since 2012, it would be a fresher plan. Yes, I’m a guy who believes the last decade of St. Louis baseball looks a lot different if Terry Francona gets offered the job in the winter after the 2011 championship run. If, if, if… there’s too many to count.

Molina will be a good MLB manager someday, most likely somewhere else because Bloom doesn’t have that size of brass balls--at least not yet. He just needs to put in the time, and that doesn’t include the Puerto Rican league. He needs to put in the same time that he did in becoming one of the best catchers to ever accept a pitch from a pitcher. There are no shortcuts. Yadi knows this.

This is a move that aligns with Rob Manfred’s recent comments on adding a “golden at-bat” to the 2025 season. It’s wild and grandiose, but falls apart after a few minutes of rumination. On The MLB 2025 the video game, it’s a hit. In reality, it’s yet another embarrassing move by a formerly respected organization.

Offer Molina a good dugout job, but not the manager gig. No shortcuts.