Cardinal's Tyler O'Neill Takes Subtle Shot At Manager Oli Marmol As Feud Heats Up
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At this point, it's fair to say the St. Louis Cardinals officially have an ongoing issue in the clubhouse -- one that has been made exponentially worse by manager Oliver Marmol deciding to make the entire feud public for absolutely no reason.
Now O'Neill appears to be fed up and went as far as to call out his manager in a pre-game media scrum.
"I came up through the minor leagues and into the big leagues playing hard, playing scrappy and that's who I am. That's my character and I don't ever want anyone to take that away from me," O'Neill told reporters, as seen on Bally Sports Midwest on Wednesday.
"These conversations definitely could have been had in-house and not gotten out loose like they have. It should have been handled a little differently in my opinion but who's to say."
The public battle comes after Marmol accused O'Neill of not hustling to home plate when the 27-year-old was gunned down by Atlanta Braves superstar right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. in the seventh inning Tuesday -- a play that proved to be pivotal in the Cardinals' eventual 4-1 loss to the Braves.
O'Neill defended himself publically, denying his lack of hustle. On Wednesday, Marmol benched O'Neill and took another shot at his outfielder.
“There is a standard here. You meet it, you play. You don’t, you don’t,” Marmold told reporters according to The Athletic's Katie Woo.
Regardless of whether O'Neill hustled or not -- which is unclear -- Marmol has handled the entire situation poorly. Players and coaches in the clubhouse naturally will take sides and a solution between Marmol and O'Neill does appear to be close.
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