Reese Kaplan -- An Outside the Box Managerial Option Available

We have all assumed that Craig Counsell is part of the David Stearns hiring -- his ability to join forces with a manager he didn't hire but who worked out splendidly well during their mutual time in Milwaukee.  While some question how Counsell would do on a big stage like New York and whether or not he'd push aside his family roots in the midwest to head to the airplanes flying overhead adjacent to Citifield, who else could be on the roster of possibilities?

This time around instead of focusing on coaches who deserve a first start with the lineup pencil or veteran and current managers who are looking for a new home, we will instead look a little bit in depth at one particular candidate who has not gotten a sniff at a managerial roles since his unexpected termination after compiling a 55.9% winning percentage in his first go-around in charge of a major league team.  I'm talking about Mike Shildt.  

For people with short memories, Shildt was a somewhat surprising man selected to head up the St. Louis Cardinals who did not have any major league managerial experience when they announced his hiring as an interim manager in July of 2018 after the team cut ties with then current manager Mike Matheny. 

While he was not particularly well known throughout the rest of the baseball world, Shildt was a star in the Cardinals organization having won multiple manager of the year awards for their minor league affiliates.  

He'd started out in the major leagues as a third base coach but was displaced when they brought back Jose Oquendo and he became the bench coach.  No one expected him to do anything more than what interim personnel are supposed to cover, but he was surprisingly successful.  After a month of solid results the stirrings began he would become a regular manager and was indeed awarded a three year deal (at minimal cost) to cover 2019, 2020 and 2021.

During his first full season in 2019 he won the pennant for the first time in quite awhile for the Cardinals.  It included over 100 victories and the team's first postseason appearance in four years.  For that effort he was awarded Manager of the Year.  In the odd 2020 abbreviated season he again reached the postseason.  Then in 2021 he set an all-time franchise record with a 17-game winning streak and for the third year of his three year deal assured the Cardinals October baseball.  He moved the Cardinals from 29th to 1st in the majors in team defense.  For that strong record of achievement he was fired.

Being Mets fans, we can understand what it's like when a manager does a great job in one season, doesn't do well the following year and is shown the door.  The situation with Shildt is not exactly parallel, however.  Shildt helped the Cardinals for 18 years winning multiple awards in both the minors and the majors but was let go not for results but for the ever vague, "philosophical differences."  

To this day the Cardinals front office hasn't addressed the issue at all though the term "toxic environment" regarding the clubhouse was leaked to the media.  Even Tony LaRussa shook his head in total disbelief about that given what Shildt achieved.  Shildt received similar support and accolades from a Who's Who of baseball managerial greats like Terry Francona, Bruce Bochy, Grady Little and many others.  

These days Shildt is working with the Padres in a consultant role but he has not yet returned to the managerial ranks which raises the reasonable question, why not?  Where can you find a skipper with his resume in his mid 50s who is longing to return to the dugout to be in charge.  Since Bob Melvin was pretty much pushed out the door to take a new role with the San Francisco Giants to be their manager, even the rumors out of San Diego have coach Ryan Flaherty the leading contender to take over the team with Melvin's departure.

Unless there is some as yet unspoken detail about a so-called toxic clubhouse you would think Stearns phoning Shildt about the Mets managerial opening would make a lot of sense.