Bernie on Marmol: he's not stupid, you are

[ForumPolice]

Oli is carrying the stench of the downward spiral this team has endured under his tutelage. If he got fired from the Cardinals today, how many MLB teams are beating down his door and competing for his services? I think we know the answer is zero. So why would the Cardinals want him?

It reminds me of the Seinfeld episode with a body odor ridden valet left a stench in Jerry's car that was unshakable.

You can add to the fact that he's extremely unpopular with the fans that you're trying to lure back to the ballpark.

Dude's gotta go

I suspect you'd be surprised at how quickly he got another shot at managing.

I was very critical of Marmol for how he handled Contreras, Carlson, O'Neill and Walker. And I still blame him for how bad 2023 went, and for how he unnecessarily still calls out players publicly (most recently with Walker last season).

But if you're looking at it rationally he has made significant improvements over the last 2 seasons, most of the players seem to really like him and his bullpen management (one of the manager's top 3 most important duties) is objectively good, if not great.

So at this point yeah I think the Cards could do a lot worse than him as manager.

There was an anonymous poll of just a handful of major league players last year asking which manager would you want to play for the least and Bud Black and Oli Marmol topped that poll

It doesn't matter whether that their thoughts were incorrect, when you're trying to lure free agents down the line to St Louis and they don't want to play for him that's a problem

In a a June 2025 anonymous survey by The Athletic, St. Louis Cardinals manager Oli Marmol was tied for the "least desirable" manager to play for among MLB players, receiving five votes. While some players cited a lack of familiarity or the team’s poor performance, the poll highlighted a perceived lack of universal love for his management style

[rage-STL]

Oli is signed through this season to manage the team. Why fire him and pay 2 guys to manage? I think Oli moves on to another role within the organization after this year and Yadi is signed to take the reins in ‘27 and beyond. Guess we’ll see.

I agree with you and Bernie that regardless of the players on the roster, I’d like to see this team play better baseball. They’ve all reached the professional level, it’s on the coaching staff to hold them to certain standards. Smart, aggressive, hard nosed and fundamentally sound baseball. That alone goes a long way to put butts in seats in this town.

I swear people will level 4 autism cling to thoughts around here no matter what. It’s like going into a special needs classroom and saying “poo poo pee pee” and then watching the chaos unfold as everyone desperately tries to get the little guys to stop repeating it with absolutely zero success

Since when did it become such an unheard of thing for teams in ANY major sport to continue paying fired coaches/paying multiple coaches? The Raiders are paying like 6 right now. It’s not an unheard of thing nor is it a major financial burden.

Yikes. I’m not clinging to anything and didn’t claim it was a major financial burden. I was hoping Bloom would have moved on from Oli when he took over, but he didn’t think it was necessary at this stage of the game. Maybe Bloom wanted to get a full grasp of the organization as the boss before picking his guy? We have no idea, but we’ll find out soon enough.

[3dender]

Oli is carrying the stench of the downward spiral this team has endured under his tutelage. If he got fired from the Cardinals today, how many MLB teams are beating down his door and competing for his services? I think we know the answer is zero. So why would the Cardinals want him?

It reminds me of the Seinfeld episode with a body odor ridden valet left a stench in Jerry's car that was unshakable.

You can add to the fact that he's extremely unpopular with the fans that you're trying to lure back to the ballpark.

Dude's gotta go

I suspect you'd be surprised at how quickly he got another shot at managing.

I was very critical of Marmol for how he handled Contreras, Carlson, O'Neill and Walker. And I still blame him for how bad 2023 went, and for how he unnecessarily still calls out players publicly (most recently with Walker last season).

But if you're looking at it rationally he has made significant improvements over the last 2 seasons, most of the players seem to really like him and his bullpen management (one of the manager's top 3 most important duties) is objectively good, if not great.

So at this point yeah I think the Cards could do a lot worse than him as manager.

There was an anonymous poll of just a handful of major league players last year asking which manager would you want to play for the least and Bud Black and Oli Marmol topped that poll

It doesn't matter whether that their thoughts were incorrect, when you're trying to lure free agents down the line to St Louis and they don't want to play for him that's a problem

In a a June 2025 anonymous survey by The Athletic, St. Louis Cardinals manager Oli Marmol was tied for the "least desirable" manager to play for among MLB players, receiving five votes. While some players cited a lack of familiarity or the team’s poor performance, the poll highlighted a perceived lack of universal love for his management style

At the time it was pointed out that the survey was silly due to its small sample size. The "winners" received 5 votes, I mean come on, they surveyed less than 30 players. That's nowhere near "universal."

[Bomber1]

Oli is carrying the stench of the downward spiral this team has endured under his tutelage. If he got fired from the Cardinals today, how many MLB teams are beating down his door and competing for his services? I think we know the answer is zero. So why would the Cardinals want him?

It reminds me of the Seinfeld episode with a body odor ridden valet left a stench in Jerry's car that was unshakable.

You can add to the fact that he's extremely unpopular with the fans that you're trying to lure back to the ballpark.

Dude's gotta go

I suspect you'd be surprised at how quickly he got another shot at managing.

I was very critical of Marmol for how he handled Contreras, Carlson, O'Neill and Walker. And I still blame him for how bad 2023 went, and for how he unnecessarily still calls out players publicly (most recently with Walker last season).

But if you're looking at it rationally he has made significant improvements over the last 2 seasons, most of the players seem to really like him and his bullpen management (one of the manager's top 3 most important duties) is objectively good, if not great.

So at this point yeah I think the Cards could do a lot worse than him as manager.

I think if Marmol was canned he would have the same number of teams clamoring to sign him as does Mozeliak - none.

[sikeston bulldog2]

He’s not stupid; you are. Reminds me of Rush- Tom Sawyer.

- today’s Tom Sawyer he gets high on you; and the space he invades he gets by on you.

Exit the Warrior…

[rockondlouie]

Bernie is the biggest Oli bootlicker in this city.

Any Cardinals fan w/a lick of baseball acumen knows he's a pathetic in game Manager, doesn't know how to set a batting order and oh yea FROZE up in Game 1 of the playoffs vs the Phillies like a deer caught in the headlights as his close melted down right before his eyes!

Bernie's opinions have taken a huge dive when he's carrying water for this HORRIBLE manager.



(And it was obviously BDWJr who had the say on Oli, who he was already paying for the 2026 season, returning or not. He wasn't going to let C. Bloom fire him, hire a new Manager and pay both w/a lockout in sight.)

[jcgmoi]

Y'all remember John Denton, the Cardinal beat writer who was recently canned? Here's the first question and his response from his AMA of three months ago.

Are there any common fan opinions/takes that are pretty disconnected from those of people with closer access to/more direct knowledge to the team?

I know that fan perception of manager Oliver Marmol isn't great in St. Louis, but he is liked immensely by the players in the clubhouse. They trust him, they know he has their back and they appreciate his bluntness in discussing their roles and future. Also, Marmol has done a brilliant job in handling the pitching staffs and bullpens the past two seasons.

There's a lot more. It's fair to ask how critical Denton could be if he wanted to keep access but it's hard to dismiss what he says completely unless you're locked into a position. I don't expect to change any minds but it's still good stuff.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Cardinals/comm ... or_mlbcom/

[ScotchMIrish]

The problem is Marmol was in the Cardinals system for many years responsible for developing talent.

Speaking of Bernie he lost me long ago by aligning with the anti-Missouri crowd in St Louis. For me that devalued his opinion on everything.

[AnExParrot]

Regarding this article, it's a good thing that Bernie's initials are BM, because his take on this is total excrement.

[ecleme22]

The problem is Marmol was in the Cardinals system for many years responsible for developing talent.

Speaking of Bernie he lost me long ago by aligning with the anti-Missouri crowd in St Louis. For me that devalued his opinion on everything.

Who are/what is the anti-Missouri crowd?

[11WSChamps]

Well that was several minutes of rambling on [nonsense] I'll never get back.

It's not the losing as much as it is how they lose and how the demeanor of the players cavalier attitude of acceptance that should be the concern.

It doesn't take a degree in differential calculus to see the team doesn't have the necessary talent to compete at a high level.

The manager has to lead the way in making the message clear you're paid to win and accepting and brushing off how the team loses is much too common.

[Strummer Jones]

I don't care about Marmol one way or the other..

but the idea that any other manager would get more out of this collection of stiffs is fantasy

How I feel about it. I defend Marmol on here, but only from the most egregious of "Team bad=Marmol bad".

Wasn't really around for the early 90's teams (born in '90) but I do remember the post '96 teams. A lot of bad on those teams. Do we think LaRussa was a bad manager, then?

Some people are just simpletons. You don't need to watch the nightly news to see that we've lost our critical thinking skills. Just go to any Cards chat/forum and bring up Marmol. You'll find out real quick.

[Adam2]

So he knows how to deal with young players? The players love to play for him?

When is the team no longer considered “young”?

How does that create a winning atmosphere? How does that build a team that knows how to play together?

What about his in-game management? His (mis)-handling of the pitching staff?

What is his overall grade? I’d say, a C at best

Marmol is desperately worried that you only graded him a C at best. With your knowledge and all

[ShakeyWalton]

Bernie is the biggest Oli bootlicker in this city.

Any Cardinals fan w/a lick of baseball acumen knows he's a pathetic in game Manager, doesn't know how to set a batting order and oh yea FROZE up in Game 1 of the playoffs vs the Phillies like a deer caught in the headlights as his close melted down right before his eyes!

Bernie's opinions have taken a huge dive when he's carrying water for this HORRIBLE manager.



(And it was obviously BDWJr who had the say on Oli, who he was already paying for the 2026 season, returning or not. He wasn't going to let C. Bloom fire him, hire a new Manager and pay both w/a lockout in sight.)

Holy cow; you're finally off the Bernie bandwagon, Floyd? I remember you calling into his show every day and only posting in his Pressbox.

[Goldfan]

Oli is signed through this season to manage the team. Why fire him and pay 2 guys to manage? I think Oli moves on to another role within the organization after this year and Yadi is signed to take the reins in ‘27 and beyond. Guess we’ll see.

I agree with you and Bernie that regardless of the players on the roster, I’d like to see this team play better baseball. They’ve all reached the professional level, it’s on the coaching staff to hold them to certain standards. Smart, aggressive, hard nosed and fundamentally sound baseball. That alone goes a long way to put butts in seats in this town.

I swear people will level 4 autism cling to thoughts around here no matter what. It’s like going into a special needs classroom and saying “poo poo pee pee” and then watching the chaos unfold as everyone desperately tries to get the little guys to stop repeating it with absolutely zero success

Since when did it become such an unheard of thing for teams in ANY major sport to continue paying fired coaches/paying multiple coaches? The Raiders are paying like 6 right now. It’s not an unheard of thing nor is it a major financial burden.

Billy Boy won’t do that….he prefers his incompetent losing mistakes continue earning that contract……

[ilcubuffs]

"It's not the losing as much as it is how they lose and how the demeanor of the players cavalier attitude of acceptance that should be the concern."

Thanks to 11WS for common sense. Gorman, Herrera, Burleson, etc lack of game awareness when running the bases. Burleson and Gorman lack of game awareness on defense. Then of course the lack of game strategy - everyday.

Playoffs FUBAR is reality on Marmots lack of MLB competence. Teacher of young players - of course the players will like you if you do not get after them after a bad play - DUH!!

Marmot brings zip and nada to Cardinal baseball.