Back in November of 2025, we heard that the St. Louis Cardinals had opened up contract extension talks with manager Oli Marmol, who is headed into the final year of his contract in 2026.

However, nothing has happened as of now, leading me to wonder - is the stage being set for Yadier Molina to eventually take over as the manager of the team?

Let's examine this from a few different sides.

One of the most revered Cardinals players of the last quarter century, Molina spent 19 years with the St. Louis organization. He was the ultimate winner, helping the team to two World Series titles. He also earned 10 All-Star selections, nine Gold Glove Awards, four Platinum Gloves and two Silver Sluggers.

He paired with the likes of Albert Pujols and Adam Wainwright to make up a special era of team history. The group won the World Series in both 2006 and 2011 and Molina also helped the Cardinals get to the World Series in 2013, where they were beaten by the Boston Red Sox.

A career .277 hitter, Molina hit 176 home runs and drove in 1,022 runs. Molina retired after the 2022 season, meaning he will be eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2028. 

Molina is going to manage Team Puerto Rico at the upcoming World Baseball Classic and has managerial experience in winter ball. He wants to be a big-league manager, and after just being hired as a special assistant to Chaim Bloom, he'll get an opportunity to learn more about the ins-and-outs of the organization. If he builds a good relationship with Bloom, it's completely plausible that that translates to him taking over on the field.

If the Cardinals don't extend Marmol this offseason and he ends up as a lame-duck manager in 2026, then there's even more credence to the notion that the organization is just waiting to replace him for 2027.

If they do give him an extension, then that's fine, but with the team expected to struggle as they go through this rebuild, what stops them from moving on after a few poor seasons and then installing Molina as they hope to turn a corner?

Two reasons, frankly.

1) Chaim Bloom worked in an untenable situation in Boston when he ran the Red Sox. Alex Cora, the manager, was beloved there. Bloom was always going to lose those battles - and did. Does he really want to be put in the same dynamic in St. Louis, except this time with a much bigger franchise icon?

2) If the team hires Molina, and he doesn't do the job well, does Bloom really want to have to be in the position to potentially fire a future Hall of Famer? I wouldn't.

Remember to join our CARDINALS on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other CARDINALS fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that's free too!