Cards Hire McGwire: What A Joke
Courtesy: Getty Images. Say hello to the Cardinals new hitting coach, former slugger and steroid user Mark McGwire.
When Cardinals manager Tony La Russa sat at the podium last week trying to defend the merits of hiring new hitting coach Mark McGwire, I sat there shaking my head. How could an organization as well run as the St. Louis Cardinals really defend this move?
McGwire hit 583 lifetime home runs, which currently ranks eighth on the all-time list. That is, of course, if you forget the fact the man was built like Hulk Hogan and was pumped up on steroids for likely his entire career.
It was androstenedione, the over-the-counter supplement that McGwire swore was natural, which he admitted to taking in 1998 when he swatted 70 home runs for the Cards, at the time the single season record. (A hopped up Barry Bonds would hit 73 in 2001 to set the current modern day mark.) Granted, it was legal within Major League Baseball to take the stuff, but unofficially andro is a steroid yet is classified as a "dietary supplement" by the FDA.
Then it was his hilarious performance in front of Congress as the Federal Government questioned McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Curt Schilling, and Rafael Palmeiro about their steroid use. Never mind the fact that in that hearing, Sosa forgot how to speak English and Palmeiro wagged his finger at the Senators before him and swore that he never took steroids. McGwire sat there red in the face and sweating bullets before he could muster out a lawyer written statement about how he wasn't there to talk about the past and that "steroids is bad".
Finally, it was his brother Jay willingly tarnishing Mark's reputation even further, detailing his brother's use of the steroid Deca-durabolin publicly and validating all the accusations made by Jose Canseco in his tell-all book,
Juiced.
This is the guy the Cardinals want as their new hitting coach? A guaranteed sideshow in the arch city for the entire 2010 campaign?
Tony La Russa demanded McGwire be his guy, or he reportedly wouldn't return to Busch Stadium for a 15th season as Cardinals skipper. He lauded McGwire's work ethic and the wonders he's worked for both Skip Schumaker and Matt Holliday.
Oh, right. I forgot. Skip Schumaker is an all star. And Matt Holliday wasn't a fantastic hitter before he started working with Mark McGwire. Yep, Cardinals made a great hire.
As Andy Dolan details very eloquently on his website
Desipio.com, McGwire wasn't much of a hitter, besides the fact that he belted a lot of home runs. Dolan points out an amazing stat: Did you know Derrek Lee has more career hits than McGwire? Did you also know Shannon Stewart has more hits than him too?
Now, I'm not saying that a guy needs to be a hall of famer to be a good coach. In fact, some hall of famers do not make great coaches or executives. Isiah Thomas has been a brutal basketball coach even though he was a fantastic player. On the other side of the coin, Larry Rothschild didn't have much of a career as a player but has excelled at the major league level as a pitching coach for years.
But this move just makes no sense. Bringing Mac back into baseball just opens the door for a throng of media to hammer him about his past and question him frequently. Is he going to hide from everybody all year? What if the Cardinals struggle to hit? Is he going to sheepishly avoid the media then?
And, what kind of example is McGwire for the hitters on that roster? What can McGwire tell them from his career that can make his players better hitters?
Well, guys, when I struggled, I'd just pop a few vitamins and watch it fly. Oh yeah, I'm sure that'll go over well with Cardinals players that actually want to record two hits in a game and not settle for a 1 for 4 with a homer and two strikeouts.
The Cardinals just took a huge risk by bringing McGwire back into the fold. Aligning him with the organization and bringing him back to baseball is a meager attempt by La Russa to bring some positive PR towards McGwire to try to get him into the Hall of Fame someday. It's just ludicrous. McGwire was a player pumped up on steroids and the only relevant numbers in his baseball career can be directly attributed to performance enhancing drugs.
At least he's the Cardinals problem, and not the Cubs.
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12 Comments
tom said:
Larry Rothschild Excelled for years.Must be because of the towel drill
IvyChatChuck said:
Just imagine where McGuire would be right now if this had happened!
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/david-kaplan-chicago-sports/2009/09/the-cubs-need-to-sign-the-1-free-agent-this-winter.html
David Kaplan said:
Mr. G you make an excellent point. What if the Cubs had indeed signed Tony as their manager? He would have demanded Big Mac as the hitting coach? That would have been a deal breaker in my opinion. There is no doubt that LaRussa is a fine manager. Arrogant? No doubt but the man gets the most out of his team. However, his decision to bring McGwire in as the hitting coach is insane. Thanks for keeping me honest!
Illini1984 said:
From the perspective of this avid Cardinals fan, the hiring of McGuire by baseball's ultimate hypocrite and self-anointed "Keeper of the Integrity of the Game" is just another example of La Russa's indifference if not disdain towards the fans and the merits of cleaning up baseball. While at Oakland, LaRussa built his resume on the backs of juiced-up sluggers and it seems that, due to some bizarre rationale, he feels that he simply cannot abandon the steroid era and its offenders.
La Russa is one of the game's better managers. He takes below average to mediocre talent and molds them into contenders. When given exceptional talent, he does not distinguish himself from other managers with comparable talent. I agree that this move smacks of an alterior motive, that of getting Big Mac back in the game and hopefully closer to the Hall some day. La Russa has won with an alcoholic Mitchell Paige and an incompetent Hal McRae as hitting instructors, so the only risk he probably feels he is taking stems from the backlash from fans and media. He has no regard for either so "Welcome Big Mac, you can have the locker between Rick Ankiel and Ryan Franklin. That way, if you need a little performance enhancing boost, you can just reach to your right or your left". Some will argue that the front office officially hired McGuire and not La Russa. This rings hollow, however, as we all know who is driving the bus on this one. Embarassing to any self respecting Cardinals fan.
joeydafish said:
No bigger a joke than Hendry signing Soriano to an eight year contract, Bradley to a three year contract or even the biggest joke of all...Hendry keeping his job.
David Kaplan said:
I'll agree that Hendry had a brutal off season last winter. However, Hendry did not do Soriano's contract. That was done above him as they tried to get the team ready for sale. Hendry wanted him no question but he did not advocate giving him an 8 year deal. He did however give Bradley the 3 year deal which was a colossal mistake.
joeydafish said:
Kap, that is the first I heard of Hendry being AGAINST the 8 year deal for Soriano, thanks for clarifying. So above him you mean Crane Kenney? I'm not looking for another person to blame, God knows there are ample but I am wondering how good a GM is if somebody above him goes aganinst his wishes?
If Soriano was insisting on an 8 year deal and Hendry was making it clear to the owners that was not the way to go he should have come up with alternatives to left field other than Soriano at 8 years. I believe that's what a very good GM would have done...whatever it takes to NOT ALLOW a bad deal to be executed that handicaps his team's future.
Better players + better manager + better GM = better chance of a World Series appearance. As long as those 3 are in place along with a 130+ million payroll...you can't blame ownership for not getting the job done. The accountability clearly resides fist with Hendry then Pinella. They are responsable for the players acquired and how they are utilized. Different story with a payroll of under 80 mil. but that hasn't been the case in quite a while. Time for a shake up of more then ownership.
Karry Ling said:
I believe Hendry didn't advocate giving Soriano eight years, just like I doubt Dale Tallon didn't start out wanting to give Marian Hossa 12 years. But both of them did it, and whether they did it because in both cases they had John McDonough pushing them to do it and "make a splash" or not, they did it.
Even if that's the case, part of being a GM is to convince your boss what's right and wrong. Nobody held a gun to Hendry's head.
Besides, it's always been Hendry's M.O. to give extra years in deals. He gave Marquis a third year when nobody else was offering TWO, same with Bradley. So it didn't shock me to see him offer Soriano eight, when the Angels were offering six.
Maybe Jimbo thought the NL would have a DH by 2011?
joeydafish said:
Atta boy!!
David Kaplan said:
Legit point on the Marquis and Bradley deals. Obviously the Tribune didn't care about the length or in many cases the size of the deals because they knew that they wouldn't be footing the bill because of the team going up for sale. It does not however, excuse making bad decisions such as the signing of Bradley, Miles or the trade for Kevin Gregg.
joeydafish said:
I've heard the expression "it's the deals you don't make" yada, yada, yada that may wind up helping a team more than anything...Hendry's grade? F.
Even if one thinks Hendry only made a few bad decisions
(I for one think he has made MANY), those few deicisions (Soriano 8 years, Bradley 8 minutes let alone 3 years) are so blatantly irresponsable that they outweigh ANY of the calculated good he has ever done (not much, just Lee and Ramirez?) Even the Zambrano extension looks like an impulsive, pressured decision. Not nearly as much of a "hand tier" like the Soriano or Bradley but at least questionable at best. And Marquis? At least he was servicable and yet he dumps him for Vizcaino...and releases HIM. Yeesh. He's scrambling for anything that resemble lightning in a bottle.
Plowhandle said:
This diseased dogfucker is doing what ? Coming BACK to baseball ? Is it any wonder fans are still shunning basball from the strike and won't come back at all with scumfucks like this roid dog ??
Fugg this silly liar and his roid-based family - - what's his roid-fueled son doing now - the kid he made a fool of back in the day when he was the false 'champion' ????
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