The Cardinals and manager Oli Marmol have agreed to a two-year contract extension, according to a report from Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Marmol was entering the final year of his contract but is now set to remain in St. Louis for the 2027 and ’28 seasons, with a club option for 2029. The Cardinals have subsequently announced Marmol’s new deal.
It’s the second extension Marmol has signed with the Cardinals. The 39-year-old initially took over as manager in St. Louis following Mike Shildt’s dismissal in October of 2021. Marmol’s first season as manager saw the Cardinals romp to a division title with a 93-win season thanks primarily to MVP-caliber performances from both Paul Goldschmidt (who won the award in the NL) and Nolan Arenado (who finished third). Unfortunately, the Cardinals were delivered a quick exit by the Phillies in the Wild Card round that year and went home that October without winning a single playoff game.
The end of the 2022 campaign also marked the end of longtime franchise face Yadier Molina‘s playing career, and Molina’s departure ushered in a transitory period in Cardinals baseball. While the club added an impactful bat behind the plate in Willson Contreras, pitchers in St. Louis struggled to adapt to life after getting so used to working with the nine-time Gold Glover. Meanwhile, both Goldschmidt and Arenado regressed in a big way, and injuries to key players like Brendan Donovan and Tyler O’Neill left the Cardinals tumbling from the top of the NL Central all the way to the bottom with a 91-loss campaign. 2024 saw the franchise get just barely back over .500 with an 83-79 record that left them tied for second place in the NL Central standings, but the team fell right back below .500 in 2025.
Difficult as Marmol’s tenure in St. Louis has been, management and ownership clearly do not lay the organization’s struggles at his feet. They signed him to a two-year extension prior to the 2024 campaign, and even after John Mozeliak retired and new president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom took over, both Bloom and team ownership have expressed confidence in Marmol in the run-up to today’s extension.
It’s understandable why the team would choose to stick with Marmol despite a lack of on-field success. The Cardinals have saddled Marmol with a stagnant and aging roster for the majority of his time with the organization. Outside of deals for Contreras and Sonny Gray (both traded to the Red Sox this offseason), St. Louis has made relatively minimal efforts to improve the roster via trades and free agency in recent years, instead banking on internal developments that haven’t come to fruition. That lack of internal development has been attributed to the organization by the team’s decision to reallocate funds that once were used for player development into fortifying the big league payroll, and over the past two years the team has started to move towards a rebuilding phase where they plan to scale back spending and return their focus to building from within.
Given the current state of the organization, it’s understandable that the Cardinals would look to keep someone they had enough confidence in to install as MLB’s youngest manager at the time of his hire. Now headed into his fifth season as a big league manager (with a decade of coaching experience prior to that), Marmol has plenty of experience handling young players and veterans alike. His work with last year’s Cardinals team, which lacked the win-now expectations of most seasons in St. Louis, will surely prove informative for the difficult task of rebuilding into a contender that the organization now faces.
In other words, we’re gonna suck for 2-3 more years, and we don’t wanna go get a real manager, until we’re ready to win. Marmol has been in over his head since day 1. The Cardinals have really gone downhill the last couple years. History is great, but reality is pretty scary in the Lou.
They aren’t going to get one then either. When have they hired one since LaRussa???
Schildt was 3rd for manager of the year in 2021, winning 90 games with a team he lead masterfully…and then Mo fired him.
Correction: Schildt was NL manager of the year in 2019, and runner up in 2021…and then Mo fired him.
My apologies.
He was hired for the same reason Matheny and Marmol were hired. Cheap and easy to control. Him and Mozaliak had that Moneyball conversation and Mo fired him.
He masterfully led them right out of the playoffs by putting Reyes in that game against the dodgers. Everyone but Schildt knew exactly how that game was going to end once Reyes came in.
Del,
Did you get that knowledge staying at the Braidwood Inn? Because that’s not a Holiday Inn Express-level insight.
Waino outpitched Scherzer IN LA in a one game playoff. It was 1-1 in the bottom of the 9th and Schildt put Reyes in even though Reyes had been awful going into the fall, giving up walk-off bombs left and right. Reyes’ body language said it all coming into that game. Schildt single-handedly lost us that game and that was a big season for the cards. He should have been fired for that call alone.
You are 100% correct. I was livid when he brought in Reyes.
I remember that. I posted on stlbirdsonthebat that night that it was a fireable offense.
But I didn’t know or expect it would actually happen.
Haha hire sleepy drunk Tony then
I was just going to say “Why” but you said it better.
Came here to say exactly that.
Marmol has beaten or tied Pythagorean record in every season except 2022.
Even with subpar rosters, the sign Oli is a good manager is that he has never lost the clubhouse.
Matheny lost the clubhouse and was gone midseason because of it.
Shildt had munity in STL & SD because of his behavior towards those working under him. But yeah thats Mo’s fault.. What horse crap that is.
Cardinals Nations despises Oli Marmol!!
They see him as a major reason of the fall of this historic St. Louis Cardinals Franchise!
17dizzy, attempting to speak on behalf of an entire fan base is a bit of an overreach.
Not if you were a season ticket holder as we have been and listened to the comments about Marmol in the stands over the past few years.
I’m just repeating what others are saying at the stadium.
Incidentally—— after 22 years —- we have dropped out of our Season Ticket holding group. As has many others —- throughout the ballpark.
Extending Marmol may not be the Worst thing Bloom has done!!
But —— give me a good reason why a team would extend a mediocre manager —
With a career winning percentage below .500 —— to rebuild a team he’s responsible for tearing down over the past 3 seasons????
Dizzy, I don’t like Marmol, either. I just don’t presume to speak on behalf of the entire Cardinals Nation.
gbs42
Google this!!!
“MLB players rank Oli Marmol as the Manager they would Least Like to Play for!!!”
You will find Marmol has won this award
over the past 2 seasons —- Yet Bloom and the Owners extended him anyway!!!
This is Crazy!!!
The only reason the extension *might* make sense is if they want Oli around during the rebuild and they plan to hire a good manager when they’re ready to compete again.
Hopefully you’re correct.
Unfortunately— I smell a rat! The DeWitts are not big spenders!! Especially on high quality players since they signed Beltran after they wouldn’t pay for Pujols!
They (the DeWitts) haven’t hired a Hall of Fame type manager since they hired Tony LaRussa in the 90’s.
I don’t ever see a quality named manager ever being employed as the Cardinals manager during The DeWitts ownership.
The DeWitts just don’t have the money it takes to spend that it takes to be championship contenders anymore!!!
The DeWitts just don’t *spend* the money it takes to be championship contenders anymore. They can, but they choose not to.
I’m at spring training today, and I saw a group of 3 people all wearing jerseys with DeWitt on the back. They had to be family because who else would ever own one of those???
Ha
Dynamite drop in, Monty.
That broadcasting school is really paying off
For a guy that never should have had the job to begin with, Marmol keeps getting chances that others far more capable would not get. Threw players under the bus multiple times. Given an unwarranted extension by Mozeliak. Now another by Bloom. STL will obviously not be competitive for years during their upcoming long rebuilding process. Someone has to fill out the lineup card and attempt to do post game interviews. So many better choices, yet STL keeps Marmol, a mystery.
Like young players, he is cheap and easy to control.
That’s top priority for tightwad owner, Billionaire Bill DeWallet.
I actually thought marmol did well in 2022 even though that team was carried by 2 mvp caliber players
He has been horrible since then and should’ve been fired by now
The team has been terrible since then. Not a manager‘s fault.
Just wanted to drop in and see Cardinal nation go nuts.
As they should.
They need to get a guy that is good with young players and gets the most out of them during the overdue rebuild.
As if Reds fans know what’s going on. You guys have sucked for decades now. Take a seat.
Bitter Cardinals fans make me laugh. Those so-called “BFIB” struggling to adjust to life cheering on an irrelevant team that’s destined to be a cellar-dweller again. Marmol is the perfect manager for that once-proud franchise.
Cubs fan here…Reds is right, his point is in no way affected by how good his team is.
I remember snotty cardinals fans talking this way to Cubs fans too…yet Chicago is relevant every year, and most of us can’t remember the last time the cards were. So…maybe your point has no validity?
lol they tanked for 5 years to build the first WS team in 100 years. how long have you watched this sport?
Completely Useless by September.
Cardinals will be totally useless by April.
Marmol came in as manager when the cards were perennially contenders to win the NL Central Division!!
Ever since Marmol’s first season, (a team built for Mike Schmidt’s guidance), his management has plunged their historic franchise directly into a total rebuild —-with no remaining Stars, Semi-Stars or former All-Stars remaining on their Major League Club.
How is that the credentials for Marmol to be the person to rebuild the Cards?
His hand prints are all over the team’s failures and mishandling of the Cardinals personnel!!!
This guy looks like the face of the Cardinals decline and by the reactions it looks like fans think so as well.
Mozeliak is the face of the Cardinals’ decline.
Mozeliak is the man behind the curtain, Oli is the face.
Wow
This is hard to hear, but not really that surprising.
He’s gonna be there for the rebuild, then he’ll get the boot.
I thought he should have been manager of the year……(ducks bricks)
Sad day for Cardinals fans
Reminds me of when David Bell got that extension actually.
“The best fans in baseball”
He needs a bench coach named Stan to have any hope at all 🤣
If I were Adam Frazier id avoid picking scraps w the mon
LOL
Not a fan of it as we all want Molina but someone has to coach this AAA team until they can be competitive…
Molina should never be manager in STL. Many do want Molina as manager.
Other than being a former player, why do you think Molina would make a good manager? Tiger fans thought the same about Trammell.
Because he was already managing the team, without the title. AJ Pierzynski even said “I never seen a player run an organization like he did.” He will be a phenomenal manager when he decides he’s ready to commit to that, and I fully believe he would be given the shot whenever he says its time.
People see when former players have success as a manager and automatically think their all time greats are going to be a great manager. What they often fail to notice, is that the former players that wind up having success as managers, are the ones who didn’t have the hall of fame careers.
But they see a trend and fail to catch the full story of why one person winds up as a good manager and why some are there for namesake only. I’m not even saying Molina wouldn’t be a good manager. But he should absolutely coach in the minors first to see how he does. One, so they can see if he’s actually good at it. Two, so they can give him familiarity with who would be on his roster should he eventually become the big league manager.
The hall of fame caliber players are best served coaching in the minors and seeing the development side first. It’s the bench/utiity players who typically adjust to being a coach/manager faster, because they’ve likely already been studying the game from that aspect for a good part of their player days. But people often miss that aspect of players turned managers that are more successful.
Yadi has already coached in the WBC. The cards have some decent success with their star players going on to run things. Red and Stan come to mind. Willie and Oquendo. Really wish Oquendo was game to coach full time.
One reason Molina would be a better manager than Marmol is that Molina knows what it takes to be a winner and to be on Championship ball teams!!!
Marmol has no clue what it takes for a team to be a winner!!
Marmol’s mismanagement of the Cardinals pitching staff, plus his disfunctional, inconsistent line up card and his disrespecting his players in the public through the media —— makes him a throw you under the bus type manager!!
Molina was a team player and has displayed himself as a Team first manager in his managerial debuts as his native country’s manager.
Who says there isn’t tanking in baseball?
There’s no longer tanking in baseball. Years ago, tanking was a way to cut payroll and get draft picks; the current CBA doesn’t incentivize tanking, so it’s no longer a thing and hasn’t been for years.
This rebuild isn’t tanking, it’s fixing what Mo destroyed by dismantling player drafting and development staff/systems throughout the org.
There’s a new $180m, state of the art facility in Jupiter and the organization has hugely expanded its coaching and development at every level. Good things are happening, but it’s going to take a while to undo what Mozeliak screwed up.
Tanking does you no good in baseball since they went with the NBA lottery to make the large markets happy.
Tanking has wrongly become synonymous with rebuilding even though it’s just one method of rebuilding and is mostly seen in other sports.
I’m obviously in the minority, but I really don’t think Marmol has been a bad manager and I’m happy to see him getting an extension.
I kind of agree. When the team has an owner that refuses to spend money to improve the team, it doesn’t matter who the manager is.
Oli is fine. He’s certainly not the problem. Mo screwed this thing up, Oli has just been there to try to piece things together.
Marmol should never have been given the job to begin with. Threw multiple players under the bus. Yes, Marmol is definitely part of the problem as poor leadership prevents any team from performing to any level of success. Should have never been extended the first time. This extension is a slap in the face to any MLB fan, not just those who follow STL.
Same. He’s fine. Much bigger problems in St. Louis than the manager.
It makes no sense to hire a new manager right now, no matter what angry fans think.
I agree, he’s fine and I think it would be silly to replace him anytime soon with what the Cardinals are trying accomplish over the next few years. Outside of poorly managing the bullpen at times, I’ve grown to appreciate him.
So you’d rather play for a manager who has a career winning record of below .500 —- than to play for a manager who “knows winning” and how to “prepare to be a winner” and how a team “develops into being a championship ball team”.
That sure doesn’t make much sense!
He cost them the Philly series by believing and leaving Helsley in the game. He hasn’t improved since. Without a leader anywhere to be found on that roster, a manager‘s job becomes even more important. He’s clearly a pushover who just wants to be friends with everyone on the team.
You know nothing about who is or isn’t a leader on their team. Not that they need a leader anyway. This isn’t football. And if he wants to be friends with everyone, then why has he allegedly thrown players under the bus multiple times?
I will not allow you, nor anyone else to speak to me the way that you have. Your ignorance is clear. The ignorance that you’ve expressed to me who has been your friend for 19 years and also your ignorance when it to not understanding that leadership is vital in baseball as well as all sports. Players respect players. Players listen to players. You and I are now finished. It did not have to be this way, but unfortunately, I cannot respect myself by allowing you back into my life. Goodbye.
That got heavy quick. I will also remove myself from your life, just to be safe
lol.
why don’t you say what your’e really thinking?
My comment wouldn’t get through moderation if I told you what I was really thinking
cost cutting and building the pipeline. This is what the game has become.
Oli Oli all come free
I know this won’t be a popular opinion but what do you expect from a team that couldn’t hit for power, no speed, poor starting pitching and couldn’t get on base. Other than that he had a playoff caliber team. He made some boneheaded statements early in his tenure but seems to have learned from that.
Last year the Cardinals were in the playoff hunt through the all star break. I didn’t like the way Shildt was fired but after his time in SD maybe he deserved the boot. You can only run out the players on your roster. There’s not a manager out there that could win with the resources he had.
It’s not a popular opinion because you’re stating the facts. The Cardinals simply don’t have the talent to contend right now. Not Marmol’s fault, he inherited an aging roster that has been systematically gutted for whatever prospects they can get in the last couple of years.
Did anyone really expect anything different in the Bloom era? The guy hurt the Red Six and will keep and will keep personnel that with hurt the Cardinals
@mdsavage
With the Sox how much of that was bloom and how much was it ownership cutting cost after 18 when dd was to win at cost and got fired after the ws. Let’s wait another year or 2 before we start saying he sucks.
Oof. Reminds me of when Derek Shelton was the best man to lead the Bucs forward.
not very impressed with Marmot from Day 1. two year extension sounds lousy for STL fans. Team has been lifeless and his creative energy is the force behind
Fun times for cardinals.
The rest of the NL Central thanks you!
Cards nation will have to wait until 2028 or 2029 to be good again and hire Pujols or Molina as manager
Checkin’ the boxes.
Trash franchise does it again. The rest of the Central will appreciate this extension. Enjoy the cellar worst fans in baseball, in the sewer where they should be. Except for Wetherholt this franchise is garbage from top to bottom. Love it!!
When life gives you Marmol, you just gotta make Marmolade.
Everyone acting like it’s the manager’s fault they don’t have a real competitive roster, or that managers have really anything to do with any decisions is insane to me. It has always been the front office setting the lineups and dictating on field decisions. Manager’s job is to keep the players in line. That’s it. Winning teams have everyone on the same page.
Can,
Front offices are making on-field, in-game decisions? I highly doubt that.
The game plan is given to them every day.
And it’s up to the manager to make on feild adjustments when the game doesn’t go exactly to plan, oli is not very good at making adjustments when there not part of the script.
Marmol is largely awful and a net negative, but I get not wanting to make a change yet. I guess.
It just stinks that not making a change yet also means extending him so he isn’t a lame duck this year or next year. Kind of a crap situation all the way around. A lot of interviews say he has great “relationships” with players, but after O’Neill and Contreras I don’t know how much I buy that. I’ve also had enough of his “paint-by-numbers” bullpen usage.
Mack423 —- Unfortunately you’re right. He’s definitely a weasel!!! So much so he even looks like a Weasel now!! I can’t see waisting money on a decent, quality manager for a team without even one star player or All-Star on the team.
However. with the way he’s thrown his players under the bus to the press in the past —- is that the type of manager we want developing the young talent Bloom supposedly brought into the club?????
The Cardinals love them some oli.
entertainment…. that’s what everything is about.
Y tho?
It is what it is. I get the extension in the situation, it will be a long couple years of seeing if any of the prospects develope into something. It would only take absolutely every player that has been underperforming the last few years to click at the same time to be competitive and the odds of that seem pretty slim. On a bright note the Springfield team should be pretty solid to watch again this season.
Oli Mormel has a cool vibe and he demands respect from his Clubhouse but I do question his management capabilities from time to time. Just my two cents. Still deserving of the extension.
Doesn’t matter who manages St. Louis this year or for the next few seasons. Cardinals are gonna suck big time. Might even get passed in the NL Central standings this year by the lowly Pirates.
Defense up the middle will be solid, but no pop in the lineup, no reliable SP and a very questionable bullpen will drag the team down. Will be lucky to win 75 games.
These are not your Granddaddy’s Cardinals. Or you Father’s. Or even your brother’s. This is Joe Torre/Cardinals bad.
Just goes to show you, even the BFIB arent very smart. Marmol is a good fit for this team. He knows the players well, he is very respected by his players, he is one of the best bullpen managers in the game and with a team that has so little experience and big questions with their rotation, that is a BIG plus.
And if in two years the team isnt winning what it should be, you move on with the talent that has been cultivated ready for the next step and bring in a veteran manager with experience. But with such a young inexperienced team you need familiarity in the dugout and a revamped player development which they have done on both accounts.
“One of the best bullpen managers in the game” LOL, come on. His bullpen management is laughable and the opposite of dynamic. He doesn’t learn.
JCH.
Google this!!
It contradicts everything you just said. Plus it’s not just for this past season!! It’s for previous seasons too!!
“MLB players rank Oli Marmol as the Manager they’d Least Like to Play For” !!!!!
Why do the Cardinals keep extending this clown? He’s the worst manager in the league (and I am not a Cards fan in any way).
Sorry Cardinals fans
He manages the bullpen well. Look it up. Besides that I believe this is his last extension. It’s going to take a couple years to clean up the mess Dewitt and Mo left.
Marmol guarantee’s two more years of poorly managed games, he is a puppet, only good season he had as a manager was when Skip Schumacher was there to tell him what to do, Marmol is a F’ing IDIOT. This move does not inspire faith in Bloom’s abilities at all.
I wish the DeWitts would sell the team, they do not care about putting together a winning team, FANS need to continue BOYCOTTING the games. I stopped buying my season tickets two years ago, continued low attendance is the only way to get their attention.
Marmol has managed to win more games than expected with the talent on the field. Honestly the lineup has potential to be a little better than last years, but the pitching staff is not just full of question marks, it is downright dreadful. Unless this bunch turns into the 2000 A’s out of nowhere…
With so many young pitchers and unproven prospects in the mix, not sure how you can fairly pass judgement on what we have right now.
As they focus on developing, drafting, and assessing for the next two years, everything is simply about finding out WHAT we have.
Settle in, and embrace the process…or don’t; this is happening whether you come along for the ride or not.
Arenado, Contreras and Gray all waived their no trade to get away from him. Donovan thanked the fans of St Louis and his teammates, but never the marmot. He is not liked.
Very good point about everyone waiving their no trade clause’s , yet another sign that Marmol should not be getting an extension.
This chump is the worst manager I’ve ever seen, why are we keeping this absolute bum. Dude writes his lineups in crayon.
lol you haven’t really been looking if this is the worst you’ve seen. He’s not great. But the worst? Hilarious.
That’s good news for the rest of the NL Central teams.
I’m n0t a big Marmol fan, but a manager can only be as good as his players allow to an extent. With the current talent level Casey Stengel couldn’t make this club a winner this year.
Good move. No point in getting a good manager when you’re going to lose 100 games the next 2 or 3 years. When the Cardinals are ready to win then they can go out and get a good manager.
One of the great MLB franchises now rewards mediocrity. What is going on here?
“Difficult as Marmol’s tenure in St. Louis has been” is NOT proper English. You can’t just leave “as” out to start the sentence because you feel like it. Correct grammar is a requirement for professional writers; it’s not optional.