What’s next for Mike Shildt?
Now we know.
Well, we know how what’s next for Mike Shildt starts.
After he was fired in surprise fashion in October from the job he would have loved to hold forever, the former Cardinals manager has landed on his feet, as those who know him knew he would.
Shildt is out of the dugout, at least for now, and on the team that shapes baseball from within. He has accepted a job with the Major League Baseball Commissioner’s Office, the Post-Dispatch confirmed Monday. Shildt isn’t talking about the new gig just yet, but he did share his excitement for an opportunity that is the process of becoming official.
USA Today reported Shildt will be working in the on-field operations department along with former Marlins executive Michael Hill, who oversees, among other things, umpires and on-field discipline.
Like Hill and former Cubs president of baseball operations turned consultant Theo Epstein, Shildt becomes another smart baseball mind on the league’s roster of game-shapers.
This seems like a win for the league.
Shildt brings with him a real passion for the issues affecting baseball today. He has a boatload of recent real-world experience from the manager’s seat, where he watched the latest trends and rule changes succeed and/or fail in real time. He has a track record of attention to detail and a healthy respect for the game’s rich history without falling victim to the line of thinking that suggests simply clinging to the sport’s past will prepare it for the future.
Shildt has expansive and researched thoughts on everything from the game’s plodding pace of play, to the unintended consequences of certain rules — such as the three-batter minimum — that were designed to speed it up. He has a good relationship with umpires despite knowing his way around an ejection. He has a proven track record of improving the quality of a team’s play and no shortage of ideas on how the league can help that effort across the board. His time with the Cardinals coming to a sudden end could become baseball's benefit. The opportunity should help Shildt, too.
It’s a very hard thing, getting fired from your dream job. Especially when it’s a complete surprise to you. Of all the things that remain murky about the Cardinals’ decision to unceremoniously cut ties with Shildt, one thing was quite clear: When the Cardinals left Los Angeles after the wild-card loss, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak later confirmed, there was no plan for a managerial change. What soured beyond repair in the eyes of the front office between that flight home and Shildt’s firing had Shildt’s head spinning even after the club named bench coach Oli Marmol as his replacement.
This was obvious when Shildt appeared on MLB Network last month as a finalist for the National League manager of the year award. Instead of declining the invite or glossing over the awkward situation, Shildt was dead honest. A career spent climbing the Cardinals ladder rung by rung toward the opportunity he had not only earned but proved he deserved was altered drastically. The same front office that gave him his baseball britches decided he got too big for them, and snatched them back without so much as a public thanks. Shildt was rocked by the rejection.
“Candidly, it hit me right between the eyes,” he said on national TV that night. “And there is some pain I’ve got to work through. And I’m doing that.”
The soul-searching Shildt has been doing will make him a better man — and if that opportunity comes, manager — moving forward. In my experience covering him, he has been willing to examine his role in something that did not go right and be truthful about what he could and should have done differently. It’s a practice most of us avoid and one we would all be better off if we practiced more often. Shildt and the Cardinals did not have philosophical differences. They developed a personality conflict. Clearly, it was not something that stopped the league from hiring him. That doesn’t mean Shildt can’t learn and grow from the curveball. He's off to find his next ladder.
Two facts about Shildt were made quite clear during his Cardinals run.
He is relentlessly competitive and expects everyone around him to burn just as bright.
He is head over heels in love with baseball and cares about making a positive impact on the game. He wants it to be played well. He doesn't want it to survive. He wants it to thrive.
I’m not sure if this new job will scratch that first itch but it should scratch the second, and it will make sure Shildt’s strengths become known beyond one team.
Sounds like a pretty good start when it comes to figuring out what comes next.
