It’s over.
The 2014 Cardinals season ended last night with a Travis Ishikawa home run deep to right field off Mike Wacha (!), sending the Giants to the World Series.
Sigh.
ON TO THE NEXT ONE! IT’S TIME TO FINISH OFF THE REST OF MISSOURI! #SFGiants #Royals #STLCards pic.twitter.com/xKth8z9fTA
— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiantsFans) October 17, 2014
I suppose it’d be one thing if the Giants had put a beating on the Birds the past week. We would be sad, sure, but at least it wouldn’t be another winter of discontentment over managerial moves and roster construction.
As friends, though, I need to shoot you straight – it’s going to be a winter of discontentment.
Here’s Will Leitch on Mathenaging:
As a Cardinals fan who has watched Mike Matheny manage his team for three years now, there is a certain cold comfort in seeing the consistent sense of bafflement over his decisions — the feeling that the person driving the bus doesn’t know where he’s going, or where the steering wheel is — go mainstream this postseason. We’ve known it for three years: Now the rest of you know.
During a spirited text exchange with a valued Cardinal opinion I wondered about a quote in particular that Matheny made in the aftermath of GM 5: “We can’t bring him in in a tie-game situation. We’re on the road.”
It hit me like a ton of bricks…
Dude isn’t willing (or able) to think on his feet. This postseason collapse? It’s not about how nice he is. Or how much his players respect him. It’s about making the best move possible at the exact moment it needs to be made.
You can’t worry about your checkmate when you’re already in check.
Matheny doesn’t really have any historical comps. He took over a World Series winning team that was loaded with young talent. He was handed the keys to a brand new Hennessey Venom GT and not only was asked to not wreck the thing, but to drive it faster than anyone had before.
Overnight he was the the instant fulcrum of success or failure during the golden age of baseball’s second most historical team.
Not exactly low profile.
And while he’s guided the Cardinals to three straight NLCS appearances and 1 World Series berth, it feels kind of like a failure.
Fair? Maybe. Maybe not.
When the Cardinals hired Matheny, it was a bold move. And in the spirit of being bold, may I suggest another move that I haven’t heard discussed: send him to the minors.
How often has a player been promoted to MLB level, struggled and been forced to go back to AAA to ‘get some more reps’ or ‘hone his swing’? 10,000? 100,000? Almost every big leaguer has had a cup of coffee and a demotion before finally sticking in ‘The Show’, right?
Why can’t we do this with the manager?
1) Matheny needs some reps. Instead of getting them in St. Louis, he gets them in Memphis or Springfield where the pressure isn’t nearly as high. He really learns how to manage a team and develop his strategy.
2) Everyone that lauds Matheny’s loyalty to his guys and respect in the locker room will be happy, right? The Cardinals aren’t getting rid of him – he’s still in the organization. He’s just away until he’s ready. The new Cardinals skip can call Mike from time to time with certain situations. An organizational resource, if you will.
3) He has the opportunity to work his way back up to being manager of the Cardinals in a few seasons when he’s been through some more fires. And if he’s really got all the potential that his supporters think he has, then it will bubble up to the surface and he’ll go on to a long and championship filled career in St. Louis!
No?
I mean, I know it will never happen. But why not?
Is this not the first time in the history of managing where this wouldn’t be absolutely insane to at least think about? After all, these last 3 seasons were the first Matheny managed at any level – anywhere. Doesn’t it make sense that he’s still in the furtive stages of learning how to coach?
Solutions.
We’re providing them over at The CD.
Photo: MLB
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
