Matheny takes high road after firing by Cardinals
ST. LOUIS — Deposed Cardinals manager Mike Matheny took the high road the day after being fired and being replaced by bench coach Mike Shildt.
Matheny threw no daggers at anyone in the organization for his abrupt dismissal after Saturday night’s 8-2 loss to Cincinnati.
“I’ve got nothing but gratitude,” Matheny said, “and this goes way back. I got two new lives with this organization, first when (manager) Tony La Russa and (pitching coach) Dave Duncan and (general manager) Walt Jocketty gave me a chance to have a second life as a player to play in a place I already called home.”
Matheny was signed as a free agent in 2000 and spent five seasons in St. Louis. After a few years as a part-time instructor with the Cardinals, he was hired with no professional managerial experience to take over the Cardinals in 2012 — the year after they had won the World Series.
During a 30-minute telephone conversation with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Matheny said he appreciated how chairman Bill DeWitt Jr., general manager John Mozeliak and others had “made a decision to really go outside the box to do something that I loved even more than playing, which I didn’t think was possible.
“I saw how good this organization has been to me, regardless of that last game or anything between that and the first day,” he said. “This was very special to me and something live-changing.
“I’m an unabashed Christ follower, and I do believe in things happening for a reason. Not about me being let go, but me getting the opportunity in the first place.”
Matheny, 47, leaves after becoming the only manager to lead his team to four playoff appearances in his first four seasons.
He never has had a losing season — even this one in which the Cardinals were 47-46 after Saturday’s loss.
They are 7½ games behind the NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs and are in danger of missing the playoffs for the third consecutive season.
While Matheny was in his office after Saturday’s game, he was visited by DeWitt and Mozeliak.
“They thought it was time for a new voice,” Matheny said.
DeWitt said Sunday that Matheny was “a super guy. Obviously, he’s disappointed, and we’re disappointed with the way the team has gone. But he’s a great person.”
Matheny said he was not surprised by what happened.
“This has been in conversation for quite a while,“he said. “We had conversations even last season that if we didn’t improve the way we went about it, this would be inevitable.”
Hitting coaches John Mabry and Bill Mueller also were dismissed.
Odds and ends
The Chicago Cubs placed outfielder Albert Almora Jr. on the family medical emergency list. Almora is hitting .319, third in the NL. … The Milwaukee Brewers placed infielder Jonathan Villar on the 10-day disabled list with a right thumb strain. … San Francisco Giants righthander Jeff Samardzija was put on the 10-day DL with right shoulder inflammation.