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Apples and oranges.RamFan08NY wrote: ↑02 Mar 2026 09:26 amYet, many here would give their right arm for Terry Francona, who won a whole 4 more games than Oli's cardinals last year.Jeff Goldblum wrote: ↑02 Mar 2026 08:46 am Love all of the marmol defenders all of the sudden. The guy is still a deer in the headlights 3 years in.
Dont know how its apples to oranges. Both had about the same W/L record last year. Does Francona hold better press conferences?Jeff Goldblum wrote: ↑02 Mar 2026 10:43 amApples and oranges.RamFan08NY wrote: ↑02 Mar 2026 09:26 amYet, many here would give their right arm for Terry Francona, who won a whole 4 more games than Oli's cardinals last year.Jeff Goldblum wrote: ↑02 Mar 2026 08:46 am Love all of the marmol defenders all of the sudden. The guy is still a deer in the headlights 3 years in.
Completely different rosters. That's how it's apples and oranges.RamFan08NY wrote: ↑02 Mar 2026 12:04 pmDont know how its apples to oranges. Both had about the same W/L record last year. Does Francona hold better press conferences?Jeff Goldblum wrote: ↑02 Mar 2026 10:43 amApples and oranges.RamFan08NY wrote: ↑02 Mar 2026 09:26 amYet, many here would give their right arm for Terry Francona, who won a whole 4 more games than Oli's cardinals last year.Jeff Goldblum wrote: ↑02 Mar 2026 08:46 am Love all of the marmol defenders all of the sudden. The guy is still a deer in the headlights 3 years in.
This will be a big year for Oli. Most of us here believe that Mo had his hands tied, and wouldn't allow him to in-game manage. Hopefully Bloom gives him the freedom to truly manage.
With that said, I am not pro Marmal. I just think he was given a lame duck team last year. Arenadio, Contreras, Donny, Gray all knew that the team wanted to cut ties with them, so the distraction was there, and focus was not. Marmal now has his team. Let's see what he does with it.
I’m just saying, check out the stable of arms Cincinnati has to choose from for their rotation.11WSChamps wrote: ↑02 Mar 2026 09:01 am Francona took the job in Cincinnati.
When is the last time they spent any money or anywhere near a top tier payroll team?
Yeah I know they are much further along in young talent.BleedingBleu wrote: ↑02 Mar 2026 13:43 pmI’m just saying, check out the stable of arms Cincinnati has to choose from for their rotation.11WSChamps wrote: ↑02 Mar 2026 09:01 am Francona took the job in Cincinnati.
When is the last time they spent any money or anywhere near a top tier payroll team?
2024 - #2 Overall RHP Chase Burns (6’-3”) - 23 years old
2023 - #7 Overall RHP Rhett Lowder (6’-2” - 24 years old
2021 - #53 Overall LHP Andrew Abbott (6’-0”) - 27 years old
2019 - #7 Overall LHP Nick Lobodo (6’-6”) - 28 years old
2017 - #2 Overall RHP Hunter Greene (6’-5”) - 26 years old
When he took over Cleveland, they were at the end of a 5-year nose dive, culminating in a 68-94 record.11WSChamps wrote: ↑02 Mar 2026 13:48 pmYeah I know they are much further along in young talent.BleedingBleu wrote: ↑02 Mar 2026 13:43 pmI’m just saying, check out the stable of arms Cincinnati has to choose from for their rotation.11WSChamps wrote: ↑02 Mar 2026 09:01 am Francona took the job in Cincinnati.
When is the last time they spent any money or anywhere near a top tier payroll team?
2024 - #2 Overall RHP Chase Burns (6’-3”) - 23 years old
2023 - #7 Overall RHP Rhett Lowder (6’-2” - 24 years old
2021 - #53 Overall LHP Andrew Abbott (6’-0”) - 27 years old
2019 - #7 Overall LHP Nick Lobodo (6’-6”) - 28 years old
2017 - #2 Overall RHP Hunter Greene (6’-5”) - 26 years old
The point I was making is that the Cardinals for a few years aren't going to spend any money well Cincinnati never has and probably never will in this era.
Perhaps Francona was given some assurance that if a veteran piece or two was needed to fill in the gaps and make them a legitimate threat than maybe that clinched the hire just speculating.
Its the St. Louis Cardinals. What manager worth his salt wouldn't want to manage this historic franchise?
despite three straight non‑playoff seasons—the organization extended Oli Marmol through 2028 and publicly emphasized expectations of losing.Goldfan wrote: ↑02 Mar 2026 09:23 am Probably for the first time in MLB with a club that is considered one of perennial contenders historically they have manager in place where it doesn’t seem to matter that he wins.
Go back to Whitey-WINNING
Torre- had a couple above .500 clubs with absolutely no support from ownership….didn’t win and was fired
LaRussa- Won the division ‘96, 2000….had a gap in between but was Tony LaRussa. The Marmot is nobody
Wins
93
71
83
78
And more than likely his record the next couple seasons will be under .500. BDW is allowing an absolute nobody to lead the Cardinals to 5 years of terrible Cards baseball.
Thats the point. Rosters are so much a key to the success of a manager. When Francina had strong rosters, hus team won. When he didnt have the strong roster, hus teams we're bad, in some cases, very bad. I think we all can agree that Oli hasn't had a good roster to work with for 3 seasons. The year he did? He had 93 wins.Jeff Goldblum wrote: ↑02 Mar 2026 12:24 pmCompletely different rosters. That's how it's apples and oranges.RamFan08NY wrote: ↑02 Mar 2026 12:04 pmDont know how its apples to oranges. Both had about the same W/L record last year. Does Francona hold better press conferences?Jeff Goldblum wrote: ↑02 Mar 2026 10:43 amApples and oranges.RamFan08NY wrote: ↑02 Mar 2026 09:26 amYet, many here would give their right arm for Terry Francona, who won a whole 4 more games than Oli's cardinals last year.Jeff Goldblum wrote: ↑02 Mar 2026 08:46 am Love all of the marmol defenders all of the sudden. The guy is still a deer in the headlights 3 years in.
This will be a big year for Oli. Most of us here believe that Mo had his hands tied, and wouldn't allow him to in-game manage. Hopefully Bloom gives him the freedom to truly manage.
With that said, I am not pro Marmal. I just think he was given a lame duck team last year. Arenadio, Contreras, Donny, Gray all knew that the team wanted to cut ties with them, so the distraction was there, and focus was not. Marmal now has his team. Let's see what he does with it.
For those wishing an 'experienced' manager , Bloom considers Oli quite experienced at this time as this is his 5th year managing and currently is the 3rd most experienced manager in the National League despite still being young in terms of his chronological age.BrockFloodMaris wrote: ↑02 Mar 2026 10:49 amMy guess is that Bloom thinks Oli is as good a bet as any other young, up-and-coming candidate. He's not a seasoned MLB winner, but neither are any first time candidates.