JUPITER, Fla. – Oliver Marmol has job security. A few hours before they faced the Pirates on Sunday, the Cardinals announced that their manager signed a contract extension that will take him through the 2027 and ’28 seasons with a club option in ’29.
Marmol, 39, has been St. Louis' manager since 2022, compiling a 325-323 record with one postseason appearance, when the Cardinals won the NL Central in his first season at the helm.
After going 78-84 in 2025, the Cardinals are entering a rebuilding year following an offseason that saw veterans Nolan Arenado, Willson Contreras, Sonny Gray and Brendan Donovan traded for prospects. Some of those prospects – right-handers Richard Fitts and Hunter Dobbins, who were acquired from the Red Sox – could be on the Opening Day roster against the Rays on March 26 at Busch Stadium.
Marmol is in his 20th season in the Cardinals organization. He started as a player in their Minor League system in 2007, going as far as High-A Palm Beach. Marmol then managed in the Minor Leagues for five years from 2012-16, leading his teams to the postseason in four of those five years before joining the big league staff as a first-base coach in 2017 under Mike Matheny. In 2019, he was named the bench coach under Mike Shildt.
“We have Oli, who came through the organization. He understands what the Cardinals are about,” said principal owner and chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. “He helped [develop] good players coming through the system and became a Major League manager. He has run with it. He has done a great job. I watch all the games … and I’m a pretty good second guesser, but with Oli, I don’t have to do that. He is really solid when he runs a game and has the support of the players. He has all the attributes you look for in a manager.”
Chaim Bloom, the team’s president of baseball operations, said Marmol is invested in making everyone around him better and willing to evolve as a manager.
“[Marmol] understands what makes this organization special,” Bloom said. “He is a Cardinal through and through. He also understands that a part of what makes this organization great is competing relentlessly, always pushing to move forward and set new standards. The passion in which he goes after is energizing and fun to be around every day.”
The players and coaching staff were at Marmol’s press conference and he made it known he is looking forward to managing a much younger group led by Masyn Winn and Alec Burleson.
“You look at some of the names on the roster [when I first arrived as a manager]. It was a veteran group,” Marmol acknowledged. “What I can say is, I’m more excited about this upcoming year than any other year that I’ve been part of this organization. A lot of it has to do with the guys in that clubhouse. You actually get to build it with them. … In the couple of weeks we have been in Spring Training, you are starting to see the guys step up the way they have. Man, it fires me up. That’s what gets me up every morning. It’s being able to see it through.”