|
The St. Louis Cardinals appear ready to start answering off-season questions with some big announcements regarding the coaching staff, according to ESPN and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
As most in St. Louis expected, manager Tony LaRussa will be back at the helm for 2010, and possibly beyond. LaRussa will reportedly sign a multiyear deal with the Cards, further padding his 14+ year legacy with the team. The big surprise, though,
 is that Mark McGwire looks to replace Hal McRae as the Cardinals’ new hitting coach.
First, let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way: LaRussa’s return is a great thing for this team, and it almost certainly guarantees the return of Dave Duncan as pitching coach as well. Love him or hate him, LaRussa’s record is undeniable. He’s only a couple hundred managerial wins shy of second place all time. He’s a Hall of Famer, no doubt. And the fact that he’ll bring Duncan—who, by all rights, should be a Hall of Famer as well—with him only makes the deal that much sweeter. The players know these guys, and the front office is committed to them and their methods.
Now to the jaw-dropper: Yes, that Mark McGwire. #25. 1998. 70 home runs. Andro. “Not here to talk about the past.” That guy.
Before we go any further with the drug references, let’s just remember that McGwire never tested positive for anything. Yeah, I know…”if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck”…but anyone that thinks McGwire will push any performance-enhancing drugs onto today’s players is ridiculously out of touch with reality. He may or may not have cheated, but he’s definitely not stupid. And it’s not like his ability to hit only showed up when he had Popeye-esque forearms: McGwire was a great hitter as a skinny rookie, too.
Of course, so was Barry Bonds. And McGwire, whether he likes it or not, will be facing a lot of questions about his past that cut to the heart of his integrity and, by extension, the team’s integrity for hiring him. Did he or didn’t he? We all think we know the answer; we just want to hear it from him. Will it make a difference? Will it make him a better hitting instructor now if he came out with a statement covering everything he did or didn’t do in the 90’s?
What’s most important is his ability to be an effective coach. Can he help struggling hitters re-gain their form? Can he be the go-to guy for a player looking to improve his plate discipline? These are the questions most coaches need to answer to determine if they are worthy of accepting and keeping their jobs. McGwire has worked with a number of hitters in recent years, including Skip Schumacher and Matt Holliday. But he needs to be knowledgeable and general enough to help each and every hitter on the roster. That’s a tall order for a first year hitting coach in the majors.
The biggest challenge for the Cardinals will be figuring out a way to keep the McGwire hiring from becoming a media circus and, consequently, a distraction to the team. Maybe he’ll come right out and make some admissions, just to kill the elephant in the room, but I doubt it. Regardless, is Cardinal Nation willing to let McGwire have a chance to prove himself as a coach? The trade of Chris Duncan this summer proves that the front office is perfectly capable of making moves independent of the wishes of the coaching staff. McGwire will not necessarily have a longer leash because he’s “Tony’s boy.” But a lot of extra attention will be given to this hiring and this coach; perhaps more than any coach hiring ever should.
The Cardinals will need to deal with that before McGwire even gets a chance to put the jersey on again. Perhaps this is his way of seeking exoneration without admission, or maybe he really can coach major league hitters. Either way—ready or not—Big Mac is back.
Chris Reed is a freelance writer from Belleville, IL who also blogs on the Cardinals at http://bird-brained.mlblogs.com
|