ST. LOUIS — The Cardinals parted ways with manager Mike Shildt in October, but it's clear the decision is still weighing on the team's former skipper.
USA Today's Bob Nightengale sat down with Shildt at Padres spring training camp in Arizona to talk about the firing. Shildt is currently San Diego's interim third base coach and player development consultant.
In Nightengale's article, Shildt said he has a "broken heart" and that the firing "still hurts bad".
You can read Nightengale's entire article by clicking here.
5 On Your Side sports director Frank Cusumano talked with Nightengale over Zoom on Thursday. The reporter said it was easy to see just how broken up Shildt still was about the firing.
"You could see the hurt in his face. It was genuine. He wasn't breaking down in tears when I talked to him, but you know, five months later it still has got a hold of him," Nightengale said.
Shildt had been in the Cardinals' organization for nearly two decades before being fired. He had led the Major League club to three straight playoff appearances and had actually thought Cardinals president John Mozeliak and owner Bill DeWitt Jr. were calling him to talk about a new contract.
Instead, he was let go with Mozeliak citing "philosophical differences".
"I think if he (Shildt) was a manager coming from outside the organization he wouldn't feel as passionate or convicted of everything. I think that in all phases of the organization, he wanted to go to that next level, and I think when he saw little things happening, it bugged him, and he spoke out internally. And I think that rubbed some people the wrong way. I think this thing had been building, we assume, nobody knew about it," Nightengale said.
Nightengale said both Shildt and his wife, Michelle, could not believe he had been fired.
"It stunned him. For him to tell his wife, and his wife not to believe him... He said that went on for several minutes. She was stunned and he was absolutely floored," Nightengale said.
Nightengale also talked to former Cardinals manager and current Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa about the situation. La Russa was quick to defend Shildt when he had heard from someone in the Cardinals organization that Shildt was fired because of a "toxic environment".
"He (La Russa) loves Mike Shildt and wants to make sure Shildty gets another job. And he doesn't want people to read from the outside and say, 'Wait a minute, was there some kind of problem there? Was he the root of anything?' So Tony wanted to clear that up real quickly," Nightengale said.
So, what does Nightengale think Shildt possibly could have done to get on the outs with the Cardinals?
"Maybe if he had just stayed in his own lane, focused on managing the Cardinals and didn't offer any input on different aspects of the organization. In the minor leagues and things like that," Nightengale said about why Shildt may have been let go.