If “managing” was easy, how come you fans have had so many “not-good” ones in your own careers? The “really good one” is like a 5-tool player. You hope for a “not too bad” one. Managing the St. Louis Cardinals is no different.
Baseball is the only sport where the “boss” is called Manager rather than Head Coach? Baseball is the only sport where the “boss” wears a uniform like the players. Why was St. Louis Cardinals great Pepper Martin called “Pepper?”
The only people naïve enough to think “managing people” is easy are those who have never had to do it. Whether it’s a Domino’s pizza franchise, a hospital surgical unit or a major league baseball team… being “good at managing” is damn tough.
It really is NOT the same as having your own fantasy team.
Mike Matheny looks like a Hollywood casting version of a no-nonsense Marine Corps colonel. That does not mean he has had the extensive management training that the military puts its officers through. Or any management training at all.
There is more to successfully managing a 25-man roster than knowing how to do “a double switch.”
We know Mike Matheny was a hard-nose catcher who took a lot of foul tips off his mask. Not discounting the value of that, is it a prerequisite for becoming the next Sparky Anderson?
Hopefully the Cardinals will bounce back with two or three Ws over the hapless Phillies. Alas, we don’t play the Phillies any more after Thursday. Then it’s back to big boy teams. We aren’t doing well against big boy teams… or Cincinnati either.
To get to “around ninety wins” the Cardinals must win fifty-nine of their remaining ninety-four games, or 74 percent of them. That’s greater than seven of every ten remaining games. Uh Oh.
Has the loss of Matt Holliday as a locker room presence been a bigger factor than anyone expected?
Are the so-called “team leaders” – Adam Wainwright, Yadier Molina, Matt Carpenter – being vocal and supportive of the younger players?
Losing SUCKS no matter how much money you make.
Would Zach Duke and Alex Reyes have made a 6-8 win difference to where the team is now?
“There is no crying in baseball” as the saying goes. In his six seasons as an MLB Manager Mike Matheny has never navigated the Cardinals ship, or any ship, in such troubled waters. The likelihood Mike Matheny survives into September becomes unlikelier with each loss.
Then the hair-on-fire twitter gang can complain about his replacement.
The turnover rate of MLB managers over a 3-year period is close to 40 percent. The turnover rate of managers at Burger King is over 65 percent. There is no crying at Burger King either.
Taking Matt Carpenter’s advice, Trevor Rosenthal has also switched back to long pants. Hey… it sure made a difference for Matt.
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