Here’s my latest in a series of 2016 previews of your St. Louis Cardinals. I’ve been focusing on the position players, but today I’ll go in another direction by taking a look at one of the most important men to wear the Birds on the Bat this season…
Matheny has a 375-273 record in his four years managing the Cardinals.
Today: manager Mike Matheny, entering his fifth year on the job after being hired to succeed the retired Tony La Russa following the World Series-winning campaign of 2011.
Historical perspective: Managing the Cardinals is a cherished position, and one of the more prestigious assignments in major league baseball and all of professional team sports. So many Hall of Fame managers held this post including Billy Southworth, Red Schoendienst, Whitey Herzog, Joe Torre and Tony La Russa. It’s a job that comes with a great deal of responsibility; the franchise standards are high. And by any reasonable, rational measure Matheny is off to a terrific start as the leader of the Cardinals. While it’s true that Matheny was handed a winning program — with a no real rebuilding required — it’s impressive to note that his winning percentage (.579) tops that of La Russa (.544), Herzog (.530) and Schoendienst (.522) in franchise history.
Achievements: The Cardinals lead the majors in regular-season wins since he took over. They made it to the postseason in each of his four seasons, and have won the last three NL Central titles.
The Cardinals have competed in 43 postseason games since 2012, which is 10 more than the second team (the Giants) on the list. The 2013 Cardinals won the NL pennant, and Matheny’s 2012 and 2014 teams advanced to the NLCS. The Cardinals won four playoff series plus a wild-card game in Matheny’s first four seasons. Despite having several good cracks at it, Matheny’s Cardinals haven’t won a World Series. And in our modern culture that’s comically overheated with faux outrage, that void has led to considerable caterwauling by anti-Matheny dissidents. But postseasons tend to be random in nature. And remember, La Russa didn’t win his first NL pennant in St. Louis until his ninth season, and didn’t capture the World Series until his 11th year here.
Recent trends: For all of Matheny’s genuine and admirable success, two concerns are in the air: (1) the Cardinals were roughed up and thrown out of the postseason by the rival Cubs in the 2015 NLDS, and (2) Matheny is 21-22 overall in the postseason, and that includes a 5-11 record in the last 16 games and a 1-6 mark in the last seven.
Best quality: Leadership is important in the modern game; getting 25 players to pull in the same direction and remain loyal to the boss and each other is no easy task. Establishing a collective mindset and team culture that fosters a winning environment is a big part of the gig, and Matheny excels at it. His players love him, and they want to play hard for him. And that loyalty is returned by Matheny, who has at times taken it too far. But baseball isn’t all about numbers. You need good or great talent to win consistently. But getting human beings of different personalities and background to focus and fight for each other — instead of fighting against each other — may be snark-worthy stuff to the hopeless cynics out there. And if a team is low on talent, a winning culture won’t do a damn bit of good. But this stuff really can make a difference on a team that has a chance to win.
What Matheny needs to work on: I have a few sincere thoughts here, so let’s quickly run through them:
(1) Avoid being overly dependent on the relievers he trusts most. That’s been an issue; at the end of last August for example the Cardinals had five relievers ranked among the top 26 in the majors for most appearances. It’s obviously hard for any manager to resist going with his best relievers — but they have to be careful about the burn-out factor. And at times the numbers can be his guide. Closer Trevor Rosenthal, for example, isn’t as effective when he pitches three (or even two) days in a row. Matheny should have more bullpen options to work with this season, and that should help.
(2) Try to preserve some starting-pitching fuel along the way to prevent the emergency of an empty tank late in the season and into the postseason. That obviously was a substantial issue with the 2015 Cardinals, who were elevated all season by superb starting pitching — until crashing with fatigue-related issues that sapped Michael Wacha, Carlos Martinez, Lance Lynn, and, to a lesser extent, Jaime Garcia. In Matheny’s defense, injuries to the rotation made it extremely difficult to give the young starters some built-in breathers to hold down their innings totals. And as a manager, he obviously wanted to finish first (and avoid the wild card) in an intense three-team race with the Pirates and Cubs. Matheny didn’t have much if any opportunity to ease up on Wacha or Martinez. But going forward, this should be a goal — just to do make sure the starting pitching is strong until the end.
(3) Some older regulars need more rest. We’ve been through this one multiple times. It’s unrealistic to expect Yadier Molina, Matt Holliday and Jhonny Peralta to log a massive innings-played count at this stage of their careers and still maintain their performance level. Matheny has more depth in place this season; I’m curious to see what he does with it. But every year Matheny comes to spring training and states his intention to roll back some of the playing time for players that need some maintenance. But it’s been more challenging for Matheny to follow by putting the plan into action.
(4) Play your best players. When a core player craters and can no longer put up major-league caliber numbers — because of injury or decline — Matheny can’t keep staying with them. I know that much of Mike’s effectiveness as a leader is based on the mutual loyalty I discussed earlier, but there should be limits. I know that Matheny doesn’t want to give up on his guys, but the empathy can’t evolve into a situation where the Cardinals are holding more talented and capable players back. Allen Craig was toast in 2014, but Matheny stayed with him. This went on and on and on … until GM John Mozeliak intervened by trading Craig to Boston. Last season there was no justifiable reason for Jon Jay (and his damaged wrist) to be taking at-bats away from Randal Grichuk or Tommy Pham. The natural question: isn’t it an act of loyalty to give your players the best chance to win by using your best lineup? (Caveat: when I say “best” lineup of players, I’m talking about the players that are healthy and energized on that day. As we said earlier tired players need days off.)
(5) Managing in the postseason is different than managing during the regular season. More urgency. Quicker hook on starting pitchers. Using your closer even if it isn’t a classic “save” situation.
Summary view: After mentioning a few potential growth areas for Matheny, I’ll wait for the usual bizarre reaction to kick in. I respect Matheny. I think he’s done an admirable job. I’ve cited his impressive record, his lofty ranking in franchise history for winning percentage. I continue to praise his ability to lead his men. But there’s always room for improvement; if you started to put together a list of ways of how I could improve as a broadcaster and a writer, you would be working on this for days and weeks. My list of flaws is long. But in professional sports, managers and athletes and coaches and GM are under scrutiny. No one gets a perfect grade every day. The yearning and search for improvement is always there; these men take immense pride in their work and want to get better.
That’s why it’s always fascinating for me to write about Matheny. He’s such a polarizing figure and I’m not sure why. But if I praise Matheny, the positive opinion invariably draws instant anger, derision and accusations of being on the team payroll. If I dare to criticize or even question Matheny on some level, his true-believer faithful rage on — and I am the anti-Christ. It’s hysterical, to write about Matheny and watch a percentage of the Cards fan base lose its collective mind — incapable of forming a balanced, fair view of his work. The extremists simply refuse to recognize that all managers are good in some areas, and not as effective in other areas. Matheny is a good manager, and he’s off to a great start in his career. And if he can adjust and become less stubborn about certain things, I believe he’ll get better.
Thanks for reading …
–Bernie
Read More: Question – Is the Cardinals’ Window Really Closing?
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