Close your eyes, St. Louis Cardinals fans. Imagine Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina, two of the team’s greatest players, coming to Busch Stadium and sharing the dugout as manager and coach.
The visitors’ dugout.
The San Diego Padres have been in contact with Pujols about perhaps being the team’s next manager. Pujols stated his intention to manage in the major leagues after leading Leones del Escogido to a championship in the Dominican Winter League for the first time. Cardinals supporters would be horrified to see El Hombre coaching another team, but the horrors don’t end there.
On the “Cardinal Territory” podcast, Matt Holliday floated the idea that if the Padres were to hire Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina might decide to join him. Molina has hinted on social media that he’s ready to return to the daily grind of baseball, and Pujols would no doubt welcome the chance to have his longtime teammate on his coaching staff. Holliday added that San Diego would make sense as a landing spot, given the number of Latino players on the roster — several of whom have close ties to Pujols.
Meanwhile, new Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom finds himself in a difficult position. St. Louis isn’t expected to contend for the postseason in 2026, so if Bloom were to bring in Pujols and Molina and the team struggled as projected, fans might question his decision to hire two rookie coaches to lead a rebuilding club.
Pujols and Molina are likely to be a package deal, and it’s hard to imagine Molina accepting a subordinate role under current manager Oli Marmol. That dynamic could change, however, if he were working under Pujols — one of the greatest players in franchise history and his longtime teammate.
If the duo were to join the Padres or another organization and succeed, Cardinals fans would likely be furious that the team let them slip away. Given that the Padres are built to compete for the playoffs, a strong debut season under Pujols and Molina would be entirely plausible. Unlike the hypothetical situation of Pujols managing the Angels and facing dismissal after another disappointing year, San Diego would have little incentive to move on from the pair if things go well.
Both Pujols and Molina are set to become eligible for the Cardinals Hall of Fame next year — a milestone fans have long anticipated. Yet their inductions would lose some of their luster if they were working for another club at the time.
It once seemed inevitable that the two icons would eventually return to St. Louis in some capacity after their playing days. That may still happen down the road, but as the Cardinals endure a grueling rebuild, watching Pujols and Molina manage another team would sting far more than any defeat on the field.