Marmol takes over as Cards manager
As Oliver Marmol transitioned into a coaching career with the St. Louis Cardinals, it became clear that he had the potential to become a big league manager one day.
That day has arrived — a little earlier than expected.
The 35-year-old Marmol was promoted from bench coach to the majors’ youngest manager on Monday, taking over the Cardinals almost two weeks after Mike Shildt was fired in a surprise move by one of baseball’s most stable franchises.
“I really felt like Oli was going to be a major league manager at some point. I did not think it was necessarily going to be 2022,” said John Mozeliak, the president of baseball operations for the Cardinals.
Marmol is the team’s youngest manager since Marty Marion at age 34 in 1951. Marmol, a New Jersey native who traces his lineage to the Dominican Republic, also becomes the franchise’s second minority manager. Cuban-born Mike González managed the team for parts of the 1938 and 1940 seasons.
Marmol was picked by St. Louis in the sixth round of the 2007 amateur draft out of the College of Charleston, but his playing career stalled at Class A Palm Beach. After coaching and managing in the minors, he joined the Cardinals’ major league staff in 2017 as the first base coach.
He spent the past three years as the bench coach under Shildt, helping St. Louis to three consecutive postseason appearances. The Cardinals used a 17-game win streak in September to move into playoff position, but they lost 3-1 to the Dodgers in the NL wild-card game.
Griffey joins Mariners ownership
Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. is investing in the Seattle Mariners in a way he never has before. He’ll be part of the ownership going forward.
The Mariners announced Monday their most famous former player has also become the first one to purchase a stake in the ballclub.
Griffey was the No. 1 overall pick in the amateur draft by the Mariners in 1987. Less than two years later, he made his major league debut and quickly grew into one of the best players of his generation with that familiar “S” on his hat — whether it was turned forward or backward.
Griffey spent his first 11 seasons with the Mariners, helping them to a pair of AL West titles and was the 1997 AL MVP. He engineered a trade to Cincinnati — where he grew up while his dad played for the reds — following the 1999 season but made his way back to Seattle for the conclusion of his career in 2009 and part of the 2010 season before retiring at age 40.
The return to Seattle rekindled his relationship with the franchise. He’s become an ambassador for the team in various settings with an official title of special consultant. He was inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame in 2013 and into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2016.