ST. LOUIS -- When Chaim Bloom ultimately takes over the Cardinals’ front office and starts evaluating the job done by manager Oliver Marmol in 2025, he should take into account the franchise missing the playoffs a third straight season and how several of the club’s most promising young players blossomed under the staff in place.
Also, Bloom should consider the grace, class and selfless nature in which Marmol handled this past weekend when franchise icon Yadier Molina made his return to Busch Stadium. Back in St. Louis for a baseball card show, Molina -- the club’s nine-time Gold Glove catcher for 19 seasons from 2004-22 -- asked the organization if he could put the uniform back on and hang around the cage during batting practice.
It was Marmol who invited Molina -- Puerto Rico’s manager for the WBC and an aspiring MLB manager – into the dugout to serve as a guest coach. Marmol did that even though he knew it would be fuel to the angry mob on social media who would want him fired from the managerial role he’s had for four seasons. He did so even though it would likely stoke the rumors that one of the most beloved Cardinals in franchise history could be poised to take over his job. He did it even though it vaulted him into a no-win situation: If the Cards won -- as they did 5-0 in Molina’s first game back -- it was because of the beloved catcher’s golden touch. And if they lost, it was a sign that Molina should be calling the shots.
Marmol did it, he explained, because Molina, 43, has so much knowledge from a likely Hall of Fame career to share with the Cardinals’ plethora of young players. He did it because, even in just 48 hours, Molina could make catchers Pedro Pagés and Yohel Pozo better. Most of all, Marmol did it because he said the organization will always come before him.
“I can’t think that way. That would be pretty damn selfish and insecure if you ask me,” Marmol said of him potentially not inviting Molina because of the speculation it would create. “If he’s going to make you better, you have him around. I could care less what noise comes with that.
“This is a guy who played a role in my development as a coach when I first got here, being able to talk to [Molina] and [Minor League instructor] José Oquendo about the game. The fact that Yadi was going to be in town, I think it would have been a huge miss to not invite him into the dugout for a few days.”
Widely considered to be one of the greatest defensive catchers in MLB history, with the ability to block baseballs and throw out runners, Molina was a driving force on Cardinals teams that won World Series titles in 2006 and ’11. While playing all 19 of his MLB seasons in St. Louis, Molina was a part of 13 playoff teams and four NL pennant winners.
When he retired in 2022, Molina was first all time among catchers in putouts and first among catchers with 184 defensive runs saved (per FanGraphs, since 2002 when the stat was first tracked). Molina led NL catchers in caught-stealing percentage four times and assists three times.
While Molina said he doesn’t miss playing, he does miss the game. With his son, Yanuell Molina, committed to play baseball at the University of Texas-Arlington next year, Molina feels like the time is right to get back into the game, and he hopes to be in an MLB dugout -- potentially as a manager -- by 2026.
“Being around the guys and the clubhouse talking baseball -- that’s what I miss,” said Molina, who received a standing ovation when he took out the Cards’ lineup card. “I watch baseball every day, and I follow the Cardinals.
“Once my son finishes [high] school, that’s when I’ll start coaching. That’s the plan. I love baseball, and this is my passion.”
For the immediate future, Molina wants to help the Cardinals any way he can, and he said he hopes this guest coaching appearance isn’t a one-time thing. He prefers to operate behind the scenes with one-on-one conversations in hopes of making subtle improvements. That’s just fine with Marmol.
“He has a really unique way of communicating what it takes to be a winning player,” Marmol said of Molina. “There’s a difference between being a good player and a winning player. It’s great when you’re a good player, but I’ll take the winning player all day long. Yadi has a unique way of expressing what it takes to really devote yourself to the game and really be that good in a way that could be influential and impactful to some of our young guys.”