La Russa Returning to Manage Cardinals as McGwire Takes Over as Hitting Coach

The St. Louis Cardinals are coming off a crushing NLDS sweep to the Los Angeles Dodgers and have a lot of decisions to make in the offseason. But one decision that they will now not have to worry about is the future of manager Tony La Russa. La Russa agreed to a one year contract to manage the Cardinals for a 15th season and a familiar face will be joining him on the coaching staff.

Every coach from last season will return to the bench with La Russa with the exception of the hitting coach Hal McRae. McRae is now out and the guy taking his place is pretty well known in Cardinals baseball history. Mark McGwire, who has not been seen anywhere near Major League Baseball, will be the new hitting coach for the team and pitching coach Dave Duncan will return as well. McGwire who hit 583 homeruns in his career has always talked about coaching one day and next season that day will finally arrive. McGwire has yet to come forward and comment on his new position but La Russa sounds happy to have him. “I’m a big fan of his,” La Russa said. “He’s back in uniform and, hopefully, people will see his greatness. But the number one reason he’s here is to coach our hitters.”

McGwire retired as one of the greatest homerun hitters of all time but after being a subject in the steroid era he has quietly fallen out of the public eye. The last time McGwire was really heard from was at a 2005 congressional hearing in which he refused to comment about steroid use. McGwire has worked with some Cardinals hitters before and players who have worked with him have been very pleased with their results.

As for La Russa, he is happy to be back managing the Cardinals for another season but knows that sooner or later it will come to an end. “I know there’s an end in sight somewhere,” La Russa said. “This is a great place to be. Past stars show up all the time. You’ve got to be a mummy not to be affected by that.” The Cardinals should once again be a playoff team again next year as they are every season but still have some questions that need to be answered in the offseason. Matt Holliday and Mark DeRosa are key free agents for this team but as always their pitching staff should be stacked and they have that other guy by the name of Albert Pujols who will continue to be the best player in Major League Baseball. One thing is for sure the Cardinals should not have any problem competing for that top spot in the National League again next season.