Instant reaction to the Cardinals' decision to make Mike Matheny their manager:
1. It's virtually impossible to root against Matheny. He impressed everyone during his time here as a catcher, earning immense respect from teammates, staff, fans, opponents and media for how he conducted himself. Matheny was a tough catcher and a relentless competitor but always a sensitive and caring teammate. Teammates from those seasons (2000 through 2004) speak of Matheny in reverential terms. Some men seem to be born to lead and Matheny apparently has it in his DNA. He's established a presence in the community. He lives here year-round. There's a vast network that will be pulling for Matheny to succeed.
2. Does this mean Matheny will be a good manager? Heck, no. Here's the deal: if anyone tells you that they know how this will work out, they're probably guilty of pushing an opinion just to make noise. That, or they are coming from a pro-Matheny agenda or an anti-Matheny agenda. The truth is, there is no credible way to predict an outcome here. We have no real basis to make an accurate forecast. Matheny hasn't managed. He hasn't been a full-time coach. There is simply no track record to go on. Yes, his leadership skills from his playing days could translate into managerial success, but this is a difficult and complex job that carries considerable responsibility in many areas. And the pressure can be extreme. The hardest thing for a sports columnist to say is this: we'll have to wait and see how it turns out. But that's how I truly feel. There's no way of knowing. We'll have to wait and see. Obviously this is a gamble, hiring a manager with no experience to succeed Tony La Russa, one of the most accomplished managers in baseball history. But Cardinals GM John Mozeliak is betting on Matheny's potential. Big risk. Big upside. And if the experiment fails, it's all on Mozeliak. But if it works, Mozeliak will gain even more power.
3. We'll have a couple of early indicators telling us how Matheny will be received by hardcore baseball people. Will he be resented for taking a very fast short cut into a big-league manager's job, jumping the line ahead of baseball lifers who have waited for 10, 20 years for a shot? If Matheny reaches out to some of La Russa's capos to ask them to stay, it's expected that they'll accept. But suppose one of the old-school coaches rejects Matheny and refuses to work for him? That would certainly raise some questions about internal support for MM.
4. It didn't take long for the political correctness police to rush in with their nonsensical theories and accusations, ripping the Cardinals for hiring the white guy (Matheny) while bypassing longtime coach Jose Oquendo, a native of Puerto Rico. Mozeliak picked Matheny over five other candidates, four of whom were white guys. So why did Mozeliak choose this particular white guy over the four other white candidates? Because Matheny was a close ally, already inside, already part of the Mozeliak inner circle.
Goodness, why is this so difficult to understand? Mozeliak gave Matheny his first baseball job, after Matheny's retirement as a player. Matheny wasn't even sure he wanted the baseball life and was reluctant to jump back into the game. But Mozeliak wore Matheny down and talked him into it. Mozeliak brought Matheny into the organization as an instructor and adviser. Matheny became a personal project of Mozeliak; it was as if the GM decided to cultivate Matheny for a future leadership role. Matheny got to know every phase of the organization, including the minor-league staff, and players in the system. Members of the Cardinals' player-development staff were big backers of Matheny; they saw how he liked to work with the prospects in the minors and paid attention to their concerns. In short, Matheny was positioned in a way that no other candidates could match. And Mozeliak had a chance to put his guy in the manager's office.
As much as Mozeliak likes Oquendo, the fact is Oquendo wasn't part of the GM's posse. And that's the primary reason as to why one man got the job, and the other man didn't. If Mozeliak thought so highly of Matheny that he gave him his first baseball job, wouldn't it stand to make sense that Mozeliak would want to hire Matheny again? They're tight.
Finally, there's this: several teams have interviewed Oquendo for the managing job, and those teams passed. And yet the Cardinals were somehow obligated to hire Oquendo when other teams wouldn't? Were they obligated to hire Oqueno because he was a minority? This is absurd. Save the PC junk for a worthy cause. This isn't one.
5. Make no mistake about it, in wake of Don Tony's retirement, Mozeliak is the boss now. And this rather maverick hire was the first move in Mozeliak's likely attempt to gather and consolidate power. I'm guessing we can expect other, um, "changes" as Mozeliak modernizes the family structure and takes it in a new direction. This past season the GM made the daring trades that became a significant factor in the Cardinals' magical run to the 11th World Series title in franchise history. Mozeliak accrued capital and now he's going to spend some of it -- and how. I mean, seriously now. How many GMs would be so bold as to replace La Russa, who managed over 5,000 major-league games, with someone that has managed zero games? Clearly the Cardinals organization will be what Mozeliak wants it to be. And you thought Mozeliak was quiet, somewhat conservative, a little bookish, and unassuming? It was a mistake to underestimate Mozeliak. Now that the tired Don Tony is going to be spending time in the tomato garden, Mozeliak has gone all Michael Corleone on us. He's settling all family business. And it starts with Matheny's appointment.
6. Oquendo showed a lot of class in his reaction to the Matheny hiring. And he displayed even more class by expressing a desire to remain on the coaching staff. We'll see what Mozeliak and Matheny decide here. It would be nice to see Oquendo continue. And if Oquendo isn't invited to remain on as third-base coach? Well, that would surely stir things up.
7. The Cardinals are saving money with this hire. La Russa made more than $4 million a year in salary. Matheny will be paid a fraction of that. In the quest to re-sign Albert Pujols, every little bit helps. Unless, of course, team chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. decides not to reinvest his managerial savings into player payroll. We'll be keeping an eye on DeWitt this offseason. After their charge to the World Series championship, business will be booming for the Cardinals. And what will they do with that cash? It's going to be a very interesting offseason. It is already.
8. So who finished "second" in the manager search? I don't think it really matters. I think Matheny had an edge because Mozeliak likes him, but he strengthened the bid during an impressive three-hour interview. (Matheny may have had home-field advantage, but still. You either interview well or you don't. And the quality of the interview usually has no real connection to how the winning candidate does his job.) Management never warmed up to Terry Francona; the stuff swirling in Boston created anxiety in the big offices at Busch Stadium. Ryne Sandberg interviewed well, but didn't have that built-in grasp of the Cardinals' organization. The Cardinals are spinning that they really liked Class AAA manager Chris Maloney, but part of the goal there was to line him up for a coaching job with the big club. Joe McEwing wasn't quite ready. Oquendo interviewed well, but not as well as Matheny did.
9. One sincere question I have about Matheny: is he creative? As a catcher he was resolute in following the careful game plan for attacking hitters as devised by pitching coach Dave Duncan. Matheny never deviated much by adding his own touches. (Which makes him different from Yadier Molina, who will go his own way and make adjustments when picking up on something.) As manager, La Russa often thought outside the box. No one will be quite as creative as TLR, and we wouldn't expect Matheny to step in and be unconventional. But it will be interesting to watch Matheny grow and develop as a manager; a personality will emerge. I'm just not sure what to expect. Like La Russa, Matheny will be be tough-minded, and he'll try to be a strong leader. Other than that, the scouting report is blank. Matheny has a lot to prove. Will he be his own man? If it's believed that Mozeliak is pulling Matheny's strings, the young manager will lose credibility.
10. Folks keep asking: will this hiring help or hurt the team's chances of keeping Albert Pujols? My opinion: it does not matter. Pujols and Matheny were teammates. Pujols certainly seems to like and respect Matheny. But so what? This will be a money deal for Pujols, as it should be. He's entitled to do that. He's earned the right to cash in as a free agent. Pujols has to do what's best for Pujols and family. And if the Cardinals low-ball Pujols, the manager's identity is irrelevant. If the Cardinals pay Pujols what he wants, he'll come back, and the decision won't have a thing to do with the manager.
Thanks for reading...
-Bernie
