The St. Louis Cardinals offered us an unprecedented opportunity to have direct access to the thinking of manager Oli Marmol. We were given a 30-minute online session to ask questions and one of the top recommendations from the community here was the viability of a 6-man rotation for this season.
Here’s what Oli had to say about using a 6-man rotation this season:
“I thought that worked really well last year…and here’s the way I was thinking about it. We didn’t have the depth in Triple A so it was almost this game within a game where we had to not get hurt. That was part of the strategy…so how do we keep these dudes healthy and not have to tap into the layer beneath them…thank God we were able to make it through where every starter made every start and the strategies that were put in place worked. I can say that you can plan all you want, but you have to get lucky for that to happen…With having almost every Thursday off if you look at our schedule, it would actually put guys on a 7-day which is not a great thing out of the gate. I think there’s times to plug them in in order to give guys the rest necessary, but not at the expense of part of the rotation being on a 7-day rather than a 6-day. That complicates things as well. People often talk about injury from a workload standpoint, where a lot of times it’s also not enough work and then jumping in. Relievers can go…he got hurt because he went 3 days in a row…well, there’s also the other side of the guy hasn’t pitched in 6 days and you ask for 2 innings. You have to balance that out as you think about the bullpen and the rotation. Out of the gate, I’m less likely to think of it as a 6-man, but I think there are times where you start to get into the schedule where that makes sense”.
You can expect to hear a lot of takeaways from our writers based on Oli’s comments. I was struck by the fact that this get-together with online writers and podcasters was Oli’s idea and not something that the Cardinals came up with. He expressed how vital it is as the team continues this rebuild process to help fans understand what the team is thinking as they make decisions since it’s been a long time since the St. Louis Cardinals have not been in a realistic contention position. He also did emphasize that he’s not assigning any length of time to how long this rebuild will take before the team is competing for a division title or pennant. The current roster could surprise or it could take longer. He wants transparency with the fanbase as we all move forward together.
One final thought on what Oli Marmol had to say. He emphasized that the front office is not dictating decisions on the field. He said that if you don’t like a decision that was made during a game, the responsibility is on him. He said that Chaim Bloom and his team are providing ample information so they can make informed decisions, but he completely owns the decisions on the field. I came away from our time with Oli Marmol impressed with this new direction and inclusion of online personalities into what the St. Louis Cardinals are working to accomplish. I believe the organization is in very good hands. Let’s hope that leads to winning sooner rather than later.
