Cardinals fire manager Shildt over ‘philosophical differences’
The Cardinals fired former National League manager of the year Mike Shildt over organizational differences Thursday, just one week after St. Louis lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers on a walk-off homer in the wild-card game.
Cardinals president John Mozeliak said the firing was “something that popped up recently,” but he refused to expand on what he called “philosophical differences” between Shildt, the coaching staff and the front office.
“All I can say is where we felt the team was going, we were struggling to get on the same page,” Mozeliak said. “With him having one year remaining on his contract, we could have gone into 2022 having that over him and we just decided that internally it would be best to separate now and take a fresh look as we head into a new season.”
It is exceptionally rare for clubs to fire managers the same day as a playoff game — the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants played the decisive game in their divisional series late Thursday. But Mozeliak and Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt Jr. decided that it was important enough to seek permission from Major League Baseball to make the move immediately.
Mozeliak declined to discuss possible replacements, but he did say there are plenty of internal candidates. He said the coaches who remain under contract are expected to return next season.
Mozeliak met with Shildt and the rest of the coaching staff Friday, but the two did not meet again until Mozeliak informed Shildt of his firing. When asked about the manager’s response, Mozeliak replied: “He was very shocked.”
“I’m not going to get into who I spoke with or the details of how I got to this decision,” Mozeliak said.
Mozeliak actually hired Shildt as a scout in 2003, beginning his long rise through the closely knit organization. Shildt soon switched to player development and worked his way through various levels of the minor league system.
He was chosen to replace current Royals manager Mike Matheny on an interim basis in August 2018, then took over the permanent job the following season. The Cardinals won 91 games that season, earning Shildt the NL manager of the year, and advanced to the NL Championship Series before getting swept by the Nationals.
The Cardinals went 30-28 during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, losing to the Padres in a first-round series, before riding a franchiserecord 17-game winning streak to reach the wild-card game again this season.