The St. Louis Cardinals announced the extension of Oliver Marmol’s contract through the 2026 campaign.
Marmol’s deal was set to expire after 2024, but the team believes in him and what he brings to the table, so they are giving him more time and peace of mind.
The opinion of the Cards’ front office, however, is not necessarily that of the fans.
The decision to extend Marmol was, for the lack of a better word, controversial among Cardinals supporters.
It’s certainly odd timing: the front office is rewarding a 71-91 season (last place in the NL Central, and the worst season by the Cards in a long time) with a two-year extension.
Here are some of the fans’ tweets about the deal:
Fire Mozeliak and fire yes man marmol
But why
A most unnecessary extension pic.twitter.com/eNaxqpTDpF
I’m starting to hate you guys..
Without proving anything. What could possibly go wrong? This organization is arrogant and dysfunctional.
Even the most controversial opinions and hot takes usually have at least a couple of positive reviews.
If you take a look in the replies section of the Cardinals’ tweet announcing Marmol’s extension, you won’t find a single tweet in support of that decision.
In his favor, he did have a 93-69 campaign in 2022, in which his team was eliminated in the Wild Card round.
Still, last year’s debacle was too much to handle for the majority of fans.
In any case, Marmol can only do so much about the woeful pitching staff he was given in 2023.
The front office has brought in several reinforcements in that area, most notably Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson, and Keynan Middleton.
Still, 2024 will represent a stiff test for St. Louis and Marmol.
Fans won’t tolerate such a highly disappointing season again.