Jose Oquendo another potential favourite for the St. Louis Cardinals’ managerial responsibility
Jose Oquendo has emerged as another potentially strong and favourite candidate for the St. Louis Cardinals’ managerial responsibility as the first round of interviews came to an end on Wednesday, November 9.
Having remained the former infielder and coach of the St. Louis Cardinals, his interview followed that of Ryne Sandberg, a Hall of Fame second baseman. While Sandberg was part of the Chicago Cubs, Oquendo has the advantage of having remained a part of the
Cardinals.
For now, as the reports widely suggest, there are no interviews scheduled for the manager slot. Also, more importantly, the Cardinals have not made their intentions known if they really are going to announce the name of Tony La Russa’s successor this week.
With the wonderful victory that the Cardinals had to their credit in the 2011 World Series, Tony La Russa came up with an unexpected retirement announcement. Joe McEwing, Chris Maloney, Mike Matheny and Terry Francona were interviewed and now Oquendo is
the sixth candidate to be interviewed with Sandberg remaining fifth.
Compared to Sandberg who had a record of .285 average, having hit 282 homers with .452 slugging percentage and .344 on-base record, Oquendo has served the Cardinals as the infield coach for the Cardinals for 13 years now.
Terry Francona, considered to be one of the favourites and a very strong candidate for the slot, was also interviewed on Tuesday. He is also comparatively the most experienced among the six who the Cardinals had called for an interview.
“Now I've just got to step back and let them do their thing and let them figure out what they want to do, and we'll see what happens," Francona said. "They were very honest and they said they'd get back to me, and I said, 'OK. I appreciate that.' ... We'll
see what happens."
By the time Tony La Russa stayed with the St. Louis Cardinals, Oquendo, however, was for a long time called the heir apparent of La Russa. Known as the ‘secret weapon’, Oquendo remains one of the immensely liked and followed figures of the St. Louis Cardinals.
It will be interesting to see who eventually succeeds La Russa and gets the managerial responsibility of the Cardinals.
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