TLR Back, McRae Out, Big Mac Appears In
The Cardinals will announce at a Monday morning press conference Tony La Russa’s decision to return for a 15th season as manager. Today’s run-up, however, features mounting evidence that La Russa’s return after a 2-week deliberation will be dwarfed by former Redbirds first baseman Mark McGwire’s return from a self-imposed 8-year exile to become the team’s hitting coach.
The club on Friday notified hitting coach Hal McRae it would not renew his contract, the Post-Dispatch has learned.
Multiple sources, including McRae’s son Brian, have confirmed McRae’s ouster following a five-year term as hitting coach.
A club source confirmed a plan to bring back McGwire but cautioned that a formal announcement could wait until after Monday’s press conference. McGwire is believed to still be negotiating a deal that would put him back in uniform for the first time since he abruptly retired after the 2001 season due to chronic injuries.
Club sources indicated Saturday that La Russa’s return was all but certain; however, La Russa deferred, saying he still had loose ends to tie before confirming he would be back.
General manager John Mozeliak offered no comment Sunday. La Russa, who arrived in St. Louis to attend a Sunday night Bruce Springsteen concert, did not return phone messages.
As recently as the day after the Cardinals were eliminated from the Division Series by the Los Angeles Dodgers La Russa insisted he did not foresee changes to his coaching staff should he return. Growing speculation arose during the season’s final weeks that the club was considering replacement McRae, whose contract expires Oct. 31. McRae becomes the fifth hitting coach dismissed during La Russa’s term in St. Louis. His 5-year term is the longest of any.
The club remains extremely sensitive to reaction about McGwire’s return. After setting the single-season home run record by hitting 70 in 1998, McGwire became the face of an ongoing controversy surrounding the prevalance of performance-enhancing drugs in the game. The club offered him a spot as a guest hitting instructor during 2007 spring training, an invite McGwire briefly entertained before rejecting due to a family issue.
McGwire has operated a de facto off-season hitting camp in Orange County for a number of major-league hitters in recent years. Current Cardinal outfielders Skip Schumaker and Matt Holliday along with recently-traded outfielder Chris Duncan are among the campers. Daric Barton, Bobby Crosby and Garrett Atkins also have attended.
McGwire has eased a bit from his seclusion from media in recent months, serving as a panelist on a Sporting News opinion board. He also spoke to the Post-Dispatch shortly before the 10th anniversary of his breaking Roger Maris’ single-season home run mark. However, he has yet to address the smear to his reputation that followed him from Congressional hearings on steroid abuse on March 17, 2005. McGwire famously insisted he did not attend to ”talk about the past.”
(13 votes, average: 4.69 out of 5)
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I’m not a big fan of McGwire as the Cards’ next hitting coach, given his past. He’ll be abused by the media, and I don’t know how the fans will take it.
I’m excited to see McGwire back. Say what you want about his past, he understands hitting. Hopefully, this will increase our patience at the plate next year. I have no doubt the fans here will wildly cheer him when he rides in on opening day.
I am glad Mac is back. I think he did more to help baseball than any player since the strike alienated so many fans. I will look forward to Mac being the hitting coach. Joel, I hope the media embraces this move. You know that with the media temperature you can help make or break a situation. Take this for what it is. A great hitter, accepting a position on his former team to help younger players.
I am on board with this.
I got to say Mark — good for you. Even though whatever you may have taken supposedly shrinks them, you still have bigger juevos than most: now see if you can keep yadi from swinging on the first pitch with runners in scoring position w/ 2 outs and a pitcher who can’t throw a strike.
Nathan - Since Cards fans were so quick to boo Manny Ramirez for his illegal drug use, don’t you think it would be a bit hypocritical for Cards fans to wildly cheer McGuire upon his return? And don’t show ignorance and play the ‘ole “It was never proven that McGuire used anything” card.
Mark is a class act and I welcome him back . My guess is that 4/5’s of baseball did this and it had become part of training . What’s really laughable is that football has been doing this forever and most likely all competitive sports . With football though no one’s hitting the long ball . In baseball you still have to center the ball. As far as character goes I will always hold him in high esteem - a very very difierent story than say Pete Rose . Pete pulled peoples chain for years . Mark did not . Further, why did he even go to that dog and pony show in Washington? What a joke !! I’d put Marks character ahead of those clowns anyday ! Let’s move on. Anyone out there in blogsphere want their closet opened ? Let’s move on . I , for one, would be delighted to have Mark back in STL !! More excited about that prospect than anything to date . One last thing……Mark wanted to be a Cardinal and took lees money to be here . Couldnt put Holliday in that catagory .
I’m with you O’Fallon - how quickly they turned on the man who made baseball interesting (and profitable) again. I think it’s time for everyone to get over his “past” and look to all that he can do for this club’s future.
I hope this works, but I’m not a big fan of having a guy with a .263 career batting average as hitting coach. How will he help Rick Ankiel cut down on strikeouts when he struck out a lot in his career as well. I think maybe this was a move to entice Holliday to stay. Its a known fact that Holliday and McGwire work out together in the offseason. If that’s the case then I don’t mind the move.
McGwire is a fraud & a disgrace to both MLB and professional sport in general. HE SHOULD NOT BE LET ANYWHERE NEAR HITTER’S IN MLB. Let’s not forget, McGwire has NEVER BEEN CONTRITE AND OR HONESTLY DISGUSSED HIS SUBSTANCE ABUSE IN MLB. (1) He should be banned from the game (2) He should never be in the Hall of Fame and (3) He should never where the Birds & Bats and or be honored in any way shape or form by the organization. If MLB is going to continue to let McGwire and other cohorts disgrace the game, well all I can say is Free Pete Rose. If McGwire takes the job, he’d better be ready…
Great to hear that Tony LaRussa is back and very excited to see what a great hitter like Mark McGwire can do to improve the Cardinals hitting……………………..I also can’t wait to see what undocumented quotes BRIAN BURWELL comes up with.