Mike Matheny Named Cardinals Next Manager
By Editorial Staff
The St. Louis Cardinals have named former catcher Mike Matheny as their new manager. Matheny, 41, was selected to take over for Tony La Russa just two weeks after the future Hall of Famer announced his retirement.
Though he has no major or minor league coaching experience, Matheny was a special assistant to Cardinals’ general manager John Mozeliak. Matheny also worked as a special instructor for the club during Spring Training. The former backstop focused much of his time working with St. Louis’s catchers.
Matheny is one of the more respected members of the Cardinals organization, and the hiring received support from several of St. Louis’s current players such as Matt Holliday and David Freese.
Still, the signing does come a bit out of left field as there were several other qualified candidates with much more experience than Matheny. Terry Francona is the name that sticks out the most. The former Red Sox manager has handled veteran clubhouses successfully, winning a pair of World Series rings in Boston. Other potentials that Matheny beat out include Ryne Sandberg, Joe McEwing, Chris Maloney, and Jose Oquendo.
According to MLB.com, the Matheny hiring signals that the Cardinals will keep a majority of their current coaching staff together. Dave Duncan, who’s considered to be one of the best pitching coaches in the league, and the other members of the current staff are known to have a good relationship with Matheny.
It becomes the second time this offseason that a major league club has named a manager with no previous coaching experience. The Chicago White Sox hired former player Robin Ventura to take over for Ozzie Guillen early in October.
Matheny’s hiring will be made official this afternoon when he is introduced as the 49th manager in Cardinals’ history.
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