Bernie: No Mystery To The Shildt Firing. He Overplayed His Hand.

Mike Shildt opened a few veins this week in an emotional if overwrought interview with USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.

In case you missed it, here’s a sampling of quotes:

– “I have a broken heart. It still hurts. It hurts bad.”

– “I love that organization, gave it everything I had for 18 years. We make the playoffs after they hadn’t been there for three years. We get back to the standards of the Cardinals. We’re set up to really go. The clean style of play, the culture, everything is in place. And you get removed from it.’’

– “It feels like it was stolen away from me.’’

– “I thought I was going to die in my Cardinals uniform. That’s why it still hurts so much.’’

Shildt’s feelings are raw and real. His firing was abrupt and unexpected. Shocking, even. I know from personal experience that it’s terrible to get sacked from a job that you love, a job that you poured everything into. It leaves a wound that takes time to close. But eventually you get back to work again – and get back to normal. My point is, I can relate to what Shilty said after lowering his guard and sharing his pain with a national publication.

But I have to add a few things, and I offer this perspective from a sincere place.

Shildt is aching. He’s still in distress. He’s confused. But in all candor, I thought he was excessive in some of his comments. Overly dramatic. But that can happen – to any of us – when our emotions are roiling.

Shildt made a pitch for sympathy. But if part of this was an attempt to portray himself as a victim, I can’t go with that. Sorry, but I just can’t.

Baseball people get fired. Successful, established and respected baseball people too. And they don’t always see it coming. And in some instances they don’t see it coming because they lack self awareness. They didn’t understand why they were dismissed because they couldn’t acknowledge their mistakes that led to a change.

What baffles me is the ongoing local reaction to the Shildt firing. As if this is all some sort of some deep, dark mystery. It’s ridiculous. Shildt was let go because he took on his bosses and they had enough.

What, you think that’s never happened here before?

Good grief.

Know. Thy. History.

Walt Jocketty was a great general manager, who recruited Tony La Russa to manage here. And personnel? So many terrific moves that I can’t name them all. He made one-sided deals that landed Adam Wainwright, Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen, Darryl Kile, Mark McGwire, Edgar Renteria, Woody Williams and Larry Walker. He signed Chris Carpenter – who was coming off a shoulder cleanup after flaming out in Toronto – to a small salary. Jocketty took a chance on catcher Mike Matheny, who was searching for a team and an opportunity after being released by the Blue Jays after the 1999 season. Jocketty signed closer Jason Isringhausen, who became the all-time saves leader in franchise history. Jocketty’s staff did the advance work that led to the Cards’ drafting of Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina. And I’m leaving out a lot of other outstanding Jocketty moves here.

From 2000 through 2006 the Cardinals had the best winning percentage in the NL (.581), competed in the postseason six times in seven years, won two NL pennants, and triumphed in the ‘06 World Series – the first for the franchise since 1982.

And less than a year after the 2006 World Series parade, Jocketty was fired by Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr., on Oct. 3, 2007.

Jocketty resented the restructuring of the baseball operations department that occurred when DeWitt recruited the data-driven Jeff Luhnow from the corporate world to change the way the Cardinals scouted, drafted and developed players. DeWitt wanted a more efficient operation that would identify young talent in a more advanced way – with the goal of producing more home-grown talent. The chairman’s beliefs were correct and successful, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that DeWitt was ahead of the curve in an evolving industry.

Jocketty felt he’d lost authority, and had to defer to Luhnow in the draft-development area. Walt is a friend of mine and I have immense respect for him. But he simply wouldn’t accept the new way, and it made him very angry. Walt pushed back – over and over again as the dissension boiled over behind the scenes. It was clear to DeWitt: Jocketty was incapable of adapting, and the internal feuding wouldn’t end. The team owner wanted peace, with everyone working together in pursuit of a shared goal. DeWitt didn’t want to have a baseball operation split by two warring factions, so Jocketty was out.

“I don’t think it played out where we could close the divide,” DeWitt said in his first public comments after firing Jocketty. “It was time to move forward with undivided vision and purpose.”

Added Cardinals’ team president Mark Lamping: “A division within baseball operations continuing without a common purpose just doesn’t work.”

“There was basically a difference of philosophy,” Jocketty said.

Difference in philosophy …

Does that sound familiar?

Back to Shildt.

DeWitt and president of baseball operations John Mozeliak wanted a more innovative approach to running the team at the field level. An approach that took advantage of advanced information provided by the analytics department. An approach that would ease the Cardinals out of their on-field dependence to outdated old-school baseball thinking in lineup choices, batting-order construction and rotation-bullpen tactics. Shildt wasn’t opposed to metrics, but would only go so far with it. And keep in mind that when Mozeliak and BDJ hired Shildt to manage, they were convinced of his commitment to analytics. It didn’t turn out that way.

Shildt wanted to continue to do things his way – and the desire wasn’t unreasonable. Most managers are like that. But the manager’s job has changed dramatically, and they have less autonomy than ever before.

The front offices expect the manager to implement the knowledge that comes with the data. The purpose is to have a healthy collaboration that benefits the team. Once they put their egos aside, most managers are cool with this. Just ask Dave Roberts (Dodgers), Craig Counsell (Brewers), Gabe Kapler (Giants), Kevin Cash (Rays), Bob Melvin (Padres), Alex Cora (Red Sox), Terry Francona (Guardians), A.J. Hinch (Tigers) and Rocco Baldelli (Twins.) There are more.

As Baldelli said a couple of years ago: “Analytics is just a word. Really, all we’re trying to do is put players in better position to succeed. It’s a huge asset to have more information and the ability to use it.”

You don’t have to like this, but that’s how it is. And there’s no going back. But when Shildt continued to resist making adjustments to get the Cardinals in line with more modern tactics being used by superior teams, he put his job security on the line … but didn’t seem to know it.

As I’ve said all along, Shildt overplayed his hand.

Sorry, but we all have bosses. And they ultimately make the decisions. And Shildt’s push backs went on for too long. At some point, if a manager refuses to get with the program, he’ll get sacked – just as Jocketty was let go for his refusal to accept DeWitt’s restructuring with Luhnow.

“There are probably things I could have done and should have done to try and make it work better,” Jocketty said in late 2007. “But I wasn’t comfortable. I didn’t do it.”

While managing the Cardinals for 16 seasons, Tony La Russa (on multiple occasions) explained to me the working relationship between manager and team management. TLR, not exactly shy, would push for things, whether it be a free-agent signing or a trade. He’d make his case. He’d challenge his bosses. The discussions would be frank and at times feisty. But, La Russa said, once the bosses made their decision – well, that’s it. And La Russa would move on. Turn the page. There was no point in turning a disagreement into something contentious and lasting. TLR would get back to work, grinding away to do what he could to help his team win games. TLR would get his way at times – the Colby Rasmus trade is a perfect example – but there were guardrails. And he knew that.

Ultimately these decisions were handed down by the front office. La Russa understood this. If he resented some of those decisions, he never let it get to him in a way that left him distracted and fuming and in the mood to start or escalate a battle. Smart. That’s how it works in baseball and other sports. I have no idea why anyone would think that DeWitt and Mozeliak should have taken orders from Shildt.

With all due respect to Shildt: he did a good job as the manager and led the Cardinals to three consecutive postseason appearances (2019-2021.) But his impact on the franchise was minor compared to the massive impact that Jocketty made in raising the Cardinals up from sustained mediocrity by building championship-caliber teams – including the squad that ended a 24-year franchise drought in winning the World Series.

If Jocketty can get fired for pushing back too hard, then it isn’t exactly a federal crime for Shildt to get fired for doing the same thing. DeWitt and Mozeliak fired Mike Matheny as manager in July 2018 after he’d led the team to four postseasons and an NL pennant. But Matheny was stubborn in his olden-days dogma, had no use for analytics, and gradually fell out of favor because of his unwillingness to evolve.

Shildt put himself in a similar spot … a vulnerable spot.

Again, the bosses don’t take orders from employees.

Shildt made an interesting, revealing comment to USA Today.

“I was so loyal to that organization, and cared so much,’’ Shildt said, “I felt an immense weight of being a caretaker of that organization. Ultimately, I put too much pressure on myself. That was my issue, not anybody else’s.”

After listing all of the people that he didn’t want to let down as manager, Shildt said, “I was very passionate of that, and dedicated to it, and at some level, I probably cared too much. There were just some things that I felt could be better, and I thought I was in a safe place to share them. Clearly, I wasn’t.”

That pressure-passion disclosure may have offered a glimpse into Shildt’s temperament, which became an issue in other ways.

I think it’s weird how fans and media pick on hitting coach Jeff Albert, the favorite scapegoat. The Shildt-Albert relationship was strained, yes. It deteriorated. And I don’t know why Shildt felt so threatened by Albert’s presence. Probably had to do with that newfangled approach to hitting. Ego was certainly a factor. The offense? Nothing wrong with it in 2021 once the Cardinals got their planned outfield in place. Nothing wrong with it away from Busch Stadium; last season the Cardinals were fifth in road slugging percentage, OPS and homers.

Anyway … Shildt was all on board with the decision to hire Albert. Shildt understood that Albert was brought in to set up an advanced, universal hitting program in the minors … one that would carry over to the majors, with young hitters embracing technology and some of the newer core principles on hitting. Shildt praised Albert repeatedly when I asked him about the hiring before the 2019 season.

You may recall that in 2019, Shildt fired the popular and effective assistant hitting coach Mark “Buddha” Budaska. That’s because Budaska didn’t buy into Albert’s methods, and wasn’t reluctant to air his dissent.

Shildt dumped Buddha.

Bye-bye.

“It’s really a decision that I didn’t want to make, but I’m comfortable and confident it was the right decision,” Shildt said at the time. “Collectively, it was made, but I ultimately made the decision. That was a difficult decision and not one that was taken lightly by any stretch of the imagination. It was done after multiple internal conversations to try to find a solution. After a while, it got to a point where I made the decision for the greater good and, moving forward, we’d make a transition.”

Huh. So in other words, Shildt wanted unity, a full buy-in, with everyone agreeing to get up to speed with Albert’s program. And when Budaska wouldn’t go along, Shildt made him go away.

Yes. Baseball. People get fired. Imagine that. And sometimes they get fired because they can’t, or won’t, work well with others.

Three quick points must be made before I go:

1) Shildt owes his professional baseball career to John Mozeliak. It was Mozeliak who hired Shildt, a nobody, and gave him a baseball job when the other MLB teams had no idea who Shildt was. And Mozeliak moved Shildt into coaching in the minor-league system, then promoted him to being a manager in the system, and promoted Shildt up the ladder and into the majors as a coach, and then the Cards’ manager. Mozeliak’s actions were hardly personal; he’d done everything to put Shildt in a prestigious position – one that Shildt could have only dreamed of many years ago. Professional differences are not personal. Professional relationships can dissolve over time. Not a new thing in sports. Not a new thing in life. Pretty standard.

2) Mozeliak and DeWitt haven’t taken any shots at Shildt since making the decision to move on. They get ripped for declining to elaborate on the specific reasons for firing Shildt. Why? Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because they don’t want to let it rip and air it all out – and possibly make Shildt look bad? They just want to move on instead of piling on?

3) Shildt’s timing is unfortunate. The Cardinals had just signed Albert Pujols, reuniting him with Molina and Wainwright. A rookie manager, Oli Marmol, is rushing to get his team ready after a short spring training. The mood in Camp Cardinal is fantastic. I don’t think the USA Today story will cause any serious distractions. But if Shildt truly supports Marmol 100 percent, then why create – or reignite – controversy a week before the season opener?

Shildt will get another shot at managing in the majors. And though he doesn’t realize this right now, he can use his post–Cardinals adversity in a way that will help make him an even better manager when he gets the next chance.

Thanks for reading …

–Bernie

Bernie invites you to listen to his opinionated sports-talk show on 590-AM The Fan, KFNS. It airs Monday through Thursday from 3-6 p.m. and Friday from 4-6 p.m. You can listen by streaming online or by downloading the “Bernie Show” podcast at 590thefan.com — the 590 app works great and is available in your preferred app store.

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