JUPITER, Fla. — One February ago here, during the quiet before pitchers and catchers reported, Oli Marmol shared with me his two words.
Now, he was supposed to come up with just one word. Dr. Michael Gervais, a high-performance psychologist who helps leaders master skills, had encouraged the Cardinals manager to choose a lone word to define his philosophy. But Marmol was stuck on two:
Honesty and curiosity.
These are traits that helped him become a major league manager in the first place — and win first place, with a 93-69 record, in his first year.
And these are the traits — especially the first word — that will help Marmol navigate his way back to the top of the standings ... and the good graces of Cardinal Nation.
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“Honesty is, first of all, looking yourself in the mirror and being honest with yourself,†Marmol told me in his office Monday, the day before pitchers and catchers report for 2024’s pivotal spring training. “It’s being honest to make sure you’re doing everything you need to be doing in order to have success. And then being honest with others and carrying yourself in a way where others can be honest with you. A lot of this offseason was reflecting on: What do I need to do better? And then actually taking action in some of those areas.â€
Asked to specify those areas, Marmol did what he hopes his pitchers won’t — he balked.
Fair enough. It was a crazy 2023, to be sure, marred by Cardinals underachievement, en route to just 71 wins. The manager didn’t want to reveal his failures on Monday. He just wanted to focus on the fixing.
And as Marmol heads into 2024, he seems mentally equipped to handle the totality of the assignment — make the Cardinals the Cardinals again.
After a good year and a bad one, this third season is his “rubber game,†so to speak.
And look, it’s not like he wasn’t honest and curious during the disaster that was 2023. But Marmol is simultaneously humble and hungry enough to admit he has room to improve on his two-word philosophies, as well as room to master his managing.
He helped get them into this mess — and he’ll help get them out of it.
Of course, if they stink in 2024, he won’t be the manager in 2025. I think that’s understood by everyone. But Marmol is the right man for the job this year.
When you speak with him, he exudes baseball intelligence, an understanding of the modern player (and modern analytics) and has an acute appreciation for the standards set by those who came before.
And this year, he’ll have a handpicked bench coach, too. That’s perhaps more important than some fans realize. Joe McEwing is an accomplished baseball man. But Daniel Descalso is Marmol’s guy. They grew up together in the Cardinals minor league system. They grew together as baseball thinkers. In 2022, Marmol had a real good thing going with Skip Schumaker, his bench coach who became not just a manager in 2023 with Miami but the National League manager of the year. The optimist thinks Marmol can optimize his managing with Descalso by his side.
Also, Marmol will be better this year because his players will be better this year. No, I’m not necessarily blown away by the likes of Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson, but they provide promise, unlike some of the underwhelming hurlers from last year’s rotation. And it’s fair to expect more pop from Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman and some of the other youngsters who gained experience last year.
Also, the deteriorated defense should be better with players actually playing the same position game after game. And the new names in the refreshed bullpen give Marmol and pitching coach Dusty Blake some new toys to play with. The Cardinals had the third-worst bullpen ERA in the National League last year. Should be quite improved this year.
As for the elephant in the room — or the GOAT in the room — Marmol is enthused and seemingly unfazed about Yadier Molina’s planned presence around the 2024 team. Marmol is saying all the right things. He’s embracing the legendary catcher’s coaching and advising, even if Molina checks the boxes for what the Cards could desire in their next manager (whatever year that person takes over).
And last year, Marmol also learned about cohesiveness — be it with players’ mentalities during the season or even that of his actual roster during spring training. I got jabbed last August when I wrote that the World Baseball Classic had quite an effect on the Cardinals’ terrible 2023. There was so much else that deserved big blame. But I stand by it — the Cardinals were without 13 players (tied for most in the majors) in much of spring camp, including most of the big names. And those big names who returned from the WBC had awful starts, notably Nolan Arenado, Miles Mikolas, Tyler O’Neill and Adam Wainwright. And 34 games in, the Cards were 10-24.
So having a full team in spring training — like, you know, how it’s supposed to be — will surely help said team.
The Cardinals could indeed win the division. Like I recently wrote, I think they’ll win 86 games. In the watered-down division, that could get them the title — or at least get them a wild-card spot in the modern postseason.
“I really believe in this group,†Marmol said Monday. “The additions that we’ve made, I think, are going to be instrumental to our just overall mentality and play on the field.â€
Of course, the Cardinals need to get back to the point where they’re winning, say, 96 games.
A manager can only do so much.
But we’ll see a maximized Marmol in 2024 — and that should mean more Marmol come 2025 and beyond.