The Cardinals announced Monday that they’ve hired former infielder Daniel Descalso as their new bench coach. Last year’s bench coach Joe McEwing will join the Cardinals’ front office as a special assistant to president of baseball operations John Mozeliak. The Cardinals still expect to make further additions to the coaching staff this winter, the team noted.
Descalso, 37, spent five years in a Cardinals uniform from 2010-14 and appeared in parts of 10 MLB seasons between St. Louis, Colorado, Arizona and Chicago (Cubs). He spent the 2023 season as a special assistant in the Diamondbacks’ baseball operations department. This will be his first professional coaching assignment.
It’s the third time in the past two offseasons the Cardinals have effectively installed one of their former players as manager Oli Marmol’s bench coach. The Cards briefly hired Matt Holliday in that role last November, but Holliday had a change of heart just months after being appointed to the post, citing a desire to spend more time with his family as the primary reason for his resignation. Holliday spent eight years playing for the Cards, of course. McEwing, meanwhile, played for the Cardinals in both 1998 and 1999. As with Descalso, Holliday was slated to be a first-time coach with the Cardinals. McEwing had spent more than a decade on the White Sox’ coaching staff.
In 1079 Major League games, Descalso tallied just shy of 2900 plate appearances and posted a .235/.320/.362 batting line. He played every position on the diamond other than catcher and center field, with the bulk of his time coming at second base, third base and shortstop (in that order).
So disappointed they didn’t hire Molina.
Hopefully they are saving manager for him. Push that clown marmol out the door
Molina will never be a bench coach. Straight to skipper.
Not in STL.
Was reported today that this does not prevent them from hiring Molina. They’re still negotiating a role
Huh???
It says if you can READ that they plan to hire more. Yadier is in the running and maybe coming up with a role for him it could be in the dugout or as an advisor but Yadier has said he wants in.
Still doesn’t make sense. Thank you for helping me though. You are a nice man.
Reading hurts you lol. Sorry you got hurt from the truth. Next time read to comprehend and than comment.
asdfgh, I really appreciate this advice.
Pitching coach?
I have to imagine that if Molina wanted the job, it’d be his job
100% Gumby
Not if he wants to get paid league average
Molina is too busy running his post-retirement empire in Puerto Rico.
He couldn’t even play out his “farewell tour” without tons of time away from the team. Wouldn’t count on him making himself available full-time.
Does this mean “Daniel descalso time” will come back to life and the Cardinals will instill that 2011 comeback in the 7th inning or later? Woot woot! Mitt Mittens gonna be crowning them 12th world series champions first game of spring training if not now come October or November of 2024! Rally Squirel where you at bro?!?!
Why don,t the Cards address one of our major problems , we need a manager. Marmol needs to go. Ownership needs to face the fact that Marmol does not know what he’s doing, when we had Shumacher telling Marmol what to do is the only reason he survived. Molina would be our best bet to help Marmol and ultimately replace him.
I’m an A’s fan. Be proud that your owner at least cares about winning and won’t move your team
We went through it with the rams
And the football Cardinals before that.
They did with the Raiders and As…. Cardinals recently have been looking like the 1995-1997 Montreal Expos… Larry Walker ie Randy Arozarena… Moises Alou ie Adolis Garcia…. Lane Thomas ie Marquis Grisom… Sandy Alcantara ie Pedro Martinez? Is it time to puke yet?
Does DeWitt care? Does he care? Can you interview him and ask him the hard questions he’ll quiver his lip at and not give you a straight answer to? I’ve seen him and Mozeliak deflect on those hard questions and refrain to past success rather than offer insight to the future…
I guess this means Molina didn’t want to work everyday.
He may end up in a role related to catching/bullpen from what i understand
That’s what I figured. I didn’t think he’d want to go on every roadtrip or give up month-long vacations.
I assume he’ll be part-time staff until Marmol gets the ax. Then we’ll see if he wants to manage everyday.
Barking humans, forgive me for having NO idea wwttff you are talking about my friend.
There were reports that Molina was being considered as bench coach. I question whether he will have anything more than a ceremonial role now.
I would be stunned to see Yadier play 2nd fiddle to anyone.
He was the primary catcher for entirely too long. Huge ego as you alluded to. One of his biggest faults and one reason why he will never be a good MLB manager.
congrats to Daniel Barefoot
I remember him coming up clutch for the dbacks a bunch, was always a nice bench bat.
I’ve often wondered if Holliday left because Ollie had no control of his team, along with wanting to spend time with his family.
Something changed quickly for Holliday. It’s not like his family magically appeared from no where after he accepted the job.
The new in vogue title these days seems to be Associate Manager, and I expect Molina will probably be given that title. In fact, bumping Ewing up to the nebulous role of Special Assistant and inserting Descalso probably facilitates Molina’s addition because otherwise it might look like it Ewing was demoted or superseded.
I AM a little troubled by how long it’s taking to nail down the details on Molina’s role.
I’d also like to add I always thought the purpose of a Bench Coach was to provide experience to an inexperienced Manager (like Marmol), Clearly the Cardinals think differently.
Lyn first then Descalso. Look out NL Central…..
Dirty Dan is going to be a player as well, right? We seem to have put out the bat signal to every former player. Matt Carpenter is next as hitting coach. Pitching coach Jaime Garcia. I could go on…
It’s a Mo-vember to remember.
Hopefully Old Friend gets you that Lexus this year. You deserve it.
Hopefully you find a better tent one day… maybe closer to someplace that will let you use their bathroom.
Why hire another young, inexperienced coach for staff full of young inexperienced coaches?
The answer is easy. These guys are controllable. They won’t offer any pushback toward the front office that hired them.
It really doesn’t matter what they do or who they sign. The problem is much more deeply ingrained. There is nothing left to do but wait this out.
The Yadi question is just as easily answered. They CAN”T hire Yadi. Yadi has made Mo’s life more difficult by telling everyone he wants the job. Yadi has more political power than Mo, and way, way more than Marmol. They CAN”T hire him because they can’t control him. End of story.
Hilarious! Molina has zero political power.. just talks a lot. The only people that keep talking him up are the fans that think he should be the STL manager. Sorry, not qualified and has a huge ego problem . Best thing STL can do is keep Molina out of the dugout. Just give him the ceremonial red coat and let it go.
Name a great manager who did not have a huge ego.
Congratulations
One day, the Cardinals front office will wake up and realize, that players don’t want to play for organizations that fire successful managers or blame their new free agent signing for why the team had a rough April.
Can’t wait for the eventual Yadi as manager crash & burn.
Do not think it will happen in STL despite how foolish STL has been with the Nostalgia Train. Molina is not nor will he ever be a successful MLB manager, way too many flaws.
I don’t know why the Cards fired Shildt but he was a legit manager whereas Marmol should be a groundskeeper.
They fired shildt because he was horrific. Just because they hired the wrong guy doesn’t mean shildt was any good.
Actually Shildt was an above average MLB manager His ability to get performance from a mediocre STL roster was good. His ability to kiss up to Mozeliak was his weakness in Mozeliak’s eyes. As to Marmol, he was a bad hire after a terrible firing of Shildt. Unfortunately, Marmol is still around to try and manage in 2024.
Would any team take on Willson Contreras’ contract? That would give the FO the money to sign a #1 or #2 starter.
No team is taking on 4/77 for Willson Contreras.
If I’m Hoyer and I think Contreras can play first, I’d consider making a call to the Cardinals but it’s going to be Contreras for Smyly and Bote because Contreras is only worth about 15 million a season and he doesn’t need to be behind the dish.
I think that’s reasonable. I think Contreras makes sense as a 1B experiment. The problem is the Cardinals already non-tendered Knizner. But they could definitely take on an underwater contract for a veteran pitcher.
Barefoot Daniel in English!
Maybe they will hire Yadi to a position like Placido Polanco
Molina will only agree to a coaching job that gives him at least 80 games paid leave per year, plus 10 sick days that can be rolled over
He barely bothered to play enough the last year to even get his pay check.
Catchers make good managers.
Learn to catch and you’ll be employed in baseball into your 70’s.
Adams sucks. “Meanwhile” can’t come in the middle of the sentence. It has to come at the start. Fire Adams.