The rumor this morning puts Cardinals bench coach Oliver Marmol in the manager’s chair:

The 35-year-old Marmol played in the Cardinals’ minor league system from 2007-10, then stayed with the organization in 2011 as the hitting coach for its rookie-level Gulf Coast League team. He coached and managed in the minors until 2017, when he joined the major league staff as first base coach.

He was promoted to bench coach in 2019 and remained in the role through this season, when the Cardinals rode a franchise-record 17-game winning streak to reach the postseason.

Chron.com

Marmol is young for a manager, as he will be leading players in Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina who are four or five years older.

As a player, Marmol never got out of A ball. Frankly, he was a terrible hitter, with a .203/.301/.282 slash line. While his OBP was much higher than his BA, he didn’t draw a ton of walks; his super power was getting hit by pitches. Pitchers plunked Marmol 40 times in 903 plate appearances. Given that his first job was as a hitting coach, I suspect he showed an understanding of the game even if he couldn’t execute.

At his young age, he is probably more in line with front office analytics. We will hear the reasons at the press conference today.