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.”
