Posted on November 10, 2011 at 6:32 AM
Filed Under: St. Louis Cardinals

I'm sure the Cardinal brass heard a lot of interesting things and have much to consider over the next few days.  Let's take a look at all six guys and see what we can figure out.

First off, there's Joe McEwing.  McEwing's not getting a lot of play in the press and in the discussion among fans, but I don't figure we should rule him out just yet.  McEwing played for Tony La Russa, which seems to be a positive in these talks.  He's managed in the minor leagues, which would look nice on a resume as well.  He was a player not long ago and he was one of those scrappy, get-the-most-out-of-your-talent guys that seem to be able to slide into managing easily.  My feeling is that he's at the bottom of the list, but there's a lot here to recommend him.

Next to interview was Chris Maloney.  Memphis's manager knows the system, obviously, and that'd be a strong selling point for a team that is going to see its minor league system come into play in the next few years, especially if they have to offset an Albert Pujols contract with younger, cheaper players.  He's been managing in the minors a long time (18 years) and if he's going to make it to the bigs, this would seem to be his best shot.  Would Maloney leave the organization if he didn't get the job?  I don't know.  He has a strong reputation, but again there's little talk about him.  Doesn't mean the Cards don't like him, though, as we've not heard much officially out of the front office about this search.

Then there was Mike Matheny.  For a guy that's never coached regularly and never managed, he's getting an awful lot of attention, seemingly including from those making the decision.  Matheny was pretty open after his interview, saying that in the discussions his lack of experience never seemed to be an issue and that the Cards seemed to be looking more for a leadership position rather than a master baseball tactician.  Apparently John Mozeliak is a huge Matheny fan, so it'll be interesting to see how that factors into things.  Right now, if you made me pick who I think WILL get the job (not necessarily who I WANT to get it), I'd have a tough time going against Matheny.

Up next was Terry Francona.  It's probably telling that Francona is the only one with any big league experience, which either means that he's got a huge advantage or, what is more likely, the Cards felt they had to interview him.  I mean, you can't fill the manager role without at least talking to the biggest "free agent" on the market, can you?  It makes it a tougher sell on a guy that has no experience.  The fans can say, "Why not Francona?  That guy's a winner.  Why didn't we talk to him instead of this bum?" if things start going south.  Bernie Miklasz makes a good point that Francona's post-interview discussion with the media was a little strange in its wording.  I went into this process thinking he had a strong chance and I really like the experience that he'd bring to the situation, but I'm thinking he's at best third on the Cardinal list and likely not even that high.

Finally, yesterday the Cards had their last two interviews.  As with Francona, there's a point that stands out about Ryne Sandberg--he was the only one that the club had to ask permission to talk to.  Everyone else is either in their organization, save McEwing.  (I guess maybe they had to ask about McEwing but I didn't see that anywhere.  He was a manager in the minors just like Ryno, so I guess they did, which undermines what I'm about to say a little bit.  The perils of writing stream-of-consciousness!)  I think the fact that they went after such a high-profile minor league manager from another organization, one that would immediately invite scrutiny, means that they are pretty serious about him.  I think you can give a McEwing a courtesy interview but I think you have to be fairly serious about a Sandberg just on name factor alone.

Sandberg was definitely saying all the right things after yesterday's interview.  I have no doubt that whatever Cub loyalty he had has been significantly tested in the last few years as he continues to get passed over for their top job.  He's always going to be a Cub--don't get me wrong on that--but I don't think it would have any impact on his job in St. Louis.  Like he said, he hoped to get to the point where they booed him in Wrigley because that meant he was doing things right in St. Louis.  I think that he'd have an interesting viewpoint of the Cardinal tradition, coming at it from a rival standpoint.  Kinda like Lance Berkman did last year, appreciating it from afar before becoming a part of it.  I wonder if Sandberg isn't Matheny's biggest competition.

That is, of course, if they aren't going to go the Secret Weapon route.  Jose Oquendo was the last to interview, but obviously one that didn't need a lot of introduction.  After being with La Russa for so long and being part of the managerial staff, his selection would provide continuity and stability.  That's a solid selling point, but there are downsides to that as well.  Remember, just last summer we were talking about a stale clubhouse and some changes needed to be made.  Turned out the change might have been TLR loosening up a little bit, but that has to be considered.  You aren't going to be able, most likely due to the stability of the position, to make a culture change again for a while.  Is this the time to do it?

Also, you have to realize that an Oquendo hire, whether this was part of it or not, will be looked at as an appeasement to Albert Pujols.  Again, I don't think the manager is going to play a huge role in Pujols's decision and the organization could hire Oquendo because they honestly think he's the best available.  However, that's what the perception is going to be outside--and perhaps even inside--the clubhouse.  Is that going to be a problem?  Can Oquendo overcome that?  I don't know.

So you probably have two tiers.  McEwing, Maloney and possibly Francona are in the lower tier, while Matheny, Sandberg and Oquendo are likely jockeying for the job.  The club hopes to make its decision by early next week, so I look forward to seeing how that plays out.

A little housekeeping (otherwise known as the Chris Jaffe section of the blog):

As you know, I often link to Chris's work at The Hardball Times because it's very good stuff and some interesting ways to look at things.  (Chris is also great about dropping me an email to make sure I don't miss anything.)  Recently, he's been on a Cardinal kick, writing things about Whitey Herzog's 80th birthday, which was yesterday; ten things he didn't know about La Russa; after the passing of Bob Forsch, highlights of his career; a day when Bob Gibson was just about perfect; and highlights of La Russa's career as well.  He also did some postseason work, coming up with the top ten postseason series of all time (the 2004 NLCS is in there).  As you can see, he's been very, very busy.

Wally Fish writes over at Seedlings To Stars and has up a nice profile of Maikel Cleto.  I'm not sure many Cardinal fans know what to make of Cleto, since he wasn't very effective in his brief time up in the bigs, but he's got potential and is still very young, so it's nice to see some chart data on him.

Finally, as you may have seen on Twitter the United Cardinal Bloggers are having their annual Cardinal Blogger Awards voting.  This year, we've opened it up to let the fans have some say in the matter.  Head on over to the official site to see the ballots that have already been posted (mine will be coming soon, I expect) and find the link for you to cast your own.  Just remember who sent you!