101 ESPN’s Bernie Miklasz really laid into Cardinals manager Mike Matheny in a column published on Friday. Miklasz references an interview Matheny had with ESPN’s Mark Saxon during which the skipper attributed his team’s flaws with defense and running the bases to the young players on the roster. Before more or less “fisking” -- or FJMing, in baseball parlance -- Matheny’s statements, Miklasz provided an interesting anecdote:
Though the Cardinals have been quite successful under Matheny in his five seasons -- they’ve gone 461-349 (.569) -- they have nothing to show for it. They lost the NLCS in seven games in 2012, lost the World Series in six games in 2013, lost the NLCS in five games in 2014, lost the NLDS in four games in 2015, and didn’t even make the playoffs last year. As a result, Matheny has been put under the microscope. Indeed, Craig has pointed out some of his shortcomings -- here and here, for example -- while Cardinals bloggers have gone to more specific detail. Miklasz, too, does a great job refuting Matheny’s claims.
We’re no longer in an era where people in crucial baseball roles can afford to be close-minded about information. Every team utilizes analytics in some capacity. To not use them, whether out of stubbornness or some moral distaste, is to intentionally handicap oneself. The Cardinals have been on the forefront of the analytics movement, too, so it comes off as particularly quirky that the manager appears to be a Luddite.
