La Russa Will Return As Manager And Bring McGwire With Him

Not only is Tony La Russa returning to the Cardinals as manager, but in a surprise move, he’s apparently convinced Mark McGwire to come out of hiding and be the team’s hitting coach. More from the St. Louis Times-Dispatch:

La Russa, 65, has agreed to come back for at least a 15th season as the team’s skipper after taking two weeks to weigh the factors that contributed to the Cardinals’ abrupt, offensively challenged exit from the postseason in a three-game Division Series sweep by the Los Angeles Dodgers. One of those factors apparently led to Friday’s move to sever ties with hitting coach Hal McRae and to install McGwire as his successor. […]

The deal is for two years and includes a raise over his previous two-year, $8.5 million deal. A modest bump would allow La Russa to supplant the Dodgers’ Joe Torre as the game’s highest-paid manager.

And with that, Viva El Birdos weighs in with their thoughts on the possibility of McGwire being back in the Cardinals’ dugout:

As for the circus—well, let’s let it play out before we work up our best indignant faces. Some sportswriters might see this as a chance to focus a little more on their pet baseball black eye, but some won’t, too; if that’s not your prerogative the best thing to do is just to look at it in your own way, and not focus on dive-bombing the people who would see a Travesty of Baseball Ethics in Albert Pujols taking an aspirin. Perpetuating the narrative, whether to trumpet it or bury it, just keeps it going; if he says he did it, that’s news, but until then each talking head from now until April is just another variation on the same set of notes.

Right now—knowing little about his techniques, and nothing about how this would or will play out—I’m excited. He’s Mark McGwire! As much as the congressional hearings made me cringe, as much as the Cardinals’ subsequent excellence has overshadowed the years in which he was the only going concern at Busch Stadium, I would be really excited to see him back on the bench, taking up his role as Slugger Emeritus. It’s been a long time coming.