Yadi Molina May Become a Cardinals Coach

Despite rumors to the contrary, the fact that I am a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan does not make me a baseball expert. But, there is a report that Yadier Molina might consider returning to the Cards as a bench coach. I have a much better idea than that though.

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I saw multiple sports media outlets including Sports Illustrated, Viva El Birdos and Fansided report that Yadi Molina is being considered as a bench coach for the St. Louis Cardinals 2024 team. I want to say that I think that's a great idea, but it can be improved upon.

I will admit that this is a pipe dream for the moment as the St. Louis Cardinals brain trust has already said that Oli Marmol will be returning as manager for the upcoming season as MLB confirmed. Fine. I've never let facts stop me from having an opinion in the past and I don't plan to stop now.

Here it is: Make Yadi Molina the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals and team immediately improves. I had a friend add that he'd love to see Chris Carpenter as pitching coach. That would be awesome, too.

What difference does it make who the manager is since it's the players play the games? Valid question. One of my biggest issues with the 2023 Cardinals was the vibe of complacency that surrounded all the sub-par performances. Do you think that would have been tolerated if Molina were the manager? I seriously doubt it.

I also take issue with locker room problems becoming media discussions with the manager. Do you think hustle problems with Tyler O'Neill would have been discussed with the press if Molina were manager? I laugh at that thought. He, Albert Pujols and Adam Wainwright were known to have "behind closed doors" meetings (like the one they had during the summer of 2011). Did the intensity of the team pick up after those? Yes, they most certainly did.

With Yadi Molina as manager, the St. Louis Cardinals would immediately become an intensely fierce team whether they liked it or not. That's an immediate improvement (although we still desperately needs lots and lots of great pitchers, John Mozeliak).

I accept that my wish will not immediately happen. However, if Yadi Molina does become bench coach, that puts him in a position to take over if things go south again with the Cardinals at the beginning of the 2024 season. If that's as good as I can get, that's OK...for now.