Re: LaRussa Back - McGwire May Be Hitting Coach

[Sammys Boombox]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4593412

 

Sources said Hal McRae, the team's hitting coach, has been fired -- and the leading candidate to replace him is Mark McGwire, the former Cardinals slugger.

 

Hal must have been mad that they didn't want to give Brian a comeback chance.

[Derwood]

McGwire: "I'm just going to help these hitters the way my hitting coaches helped me.....with buckets of steroids"

[Clem Fandango]

Wow. McGwire? Really?

[NonProfitCow]

Mark McGwire will end his baseball exile this afternoon and accept a position with the St. Louis Cardinals as their hitting coach, a Cardinal source confirmed this afternoon to FanHouse's Ed Price. He'll replace Hal McRae, who's held the position for five years.

 

This news seems to make it pretty clear that Tony La Russa, who's been close with McGwire after managing him both in Oakland and St. Louis, should be back in 2010 as the Cardinals' manager. There was initially some question about that, but a report by Joe Strauss this morning pointed pretty strongly towards La Russa's return. It's hard to imagine any way McGwire accepts this job without La Russa in St. Louis.

[reggiemiller rules]

Wow. McGwire? Really?

 

Its not really that shocking, he works with hitters every offseason. I know Skip, Duncan, and Holliday have all worked with him, and he turned down the rockies offer to be hitting coach as well.

[Derwood]

for Cardinal fans' sake, I hope he's a better hitting coach than he was a hitter

[Sammys Boombox]

I thought McGwire had a pretty good hitting approach. He took a lot of called strike threes because he was a mistake hitter. He knew he was a mistake hitter so he didn't swing at many pitchers' pitches, even with two strikes. Sure he struck out looking a lot, but at least he knew what he could and couldn't do.

[Derwood]

I thought McGwire had a pretty good hitting approach. He took a lot of called strike threes because he was a mistake hitter. He knew he was a mistake hitter so he didn't swing at many pitchers' pitches, even with two strikes. Sure he struck out looking a lot, but at least he knew what he could and couldn't do.

 

He was a roided up power hitter whose OBP was inflated by pitchers not wanting to throw him strikes.

[SouthSideRyan]

for Cardinal fans' sake, I hope he's a better hitting coach than he was a hitter

 

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[DanzaSlap]

I thought McGwire had a pretty good hitting approach. He took a lot of called strike threes because he was a mistake hitter. He knew he was a mistake hitter so he didn't swing at many pitchers' pitches, even with two strikes. Sure he struck out looking a lot, but at least he knew what he could and couldn't do.

 

He was a roided up power hitter whose OBP was inflated by pitchers not wanting to throw him strikes.

 

They didn't want to throw him strikes because he was such a dominant hitter...

[Derwood]

I thought McGwire had a pretty good hitting approach. He took a lot of called strike threes because he was a mistake hitter. He knew he was a mistake hitter so he didn't swing at many pitchers' pitches, even with two strikes. Sure he struck out looking a lot, but at least he knew what he could and couldn't do.

 

He was a roided up power hitter whose OBP was inflated by pitchers not wanting to throw him strikes.

 

They didn't want to throw him strikes because he was such a dominant hitter...

 

at hitting the ball out of the park. He was a great slugger, but no one ever called him a great hitter.

[SouthSideRyan]

I thought McGwire had a pretty good hitting approach. He took a lot of called strike threes because he was a mistake hitter. He knew he was a mistake hitter so he didn't swing at many pitchers' pitches, even with two strikes. Sure he struck out looking a lot, but at least he knew what he could and couldn't do.

 

He was a roided up power hitter whose OBP was inflated by pitchers not wanting to throw him strikes.

 

They didn't want to throw him strikes because he was such a dominant hitter...

 

at hitting the ball out of the park. He was a great slugger, but no one ever called him a great hitter.

 

So good hitters are only guys with high batting averages? That's lunacy.

[Derwood]

I thought McGwire had a pretty good hitting approach. He took a lot of called strike threes because he was a mistake hitter. He knew he was a mistake hitter so he didn't swing at many pitchers' pitches, even with two strikes. Sure he struck out looking a lot, but at least he knew what he could and couldn't do.

 

He was a roided up power hitter whose OBP was inflated by pitchers not wanting to throw him strikes.

 

They didn't want to throw him strikes because he was such a dominant hitter...

 

at hitting the ball out of the park. He was a great slugger, but no one ever called him a great hitter.

 

So good hitters are only guys with high batting averages? That's lunacy.

 

No, of course not. But we're talking about whether a slugger is the best candidate for a hitting coach. I'd love Adam Dunn to be on my team, but I wouldn't want him as my hitting instructor.

 

Not that being a great hitter means you're going to be a great hitting coach either.

[baseballfan50]

McGwire cheated. So did a lot of players. I can't hold it against him too much. Most of us would have been tempted to cheat in those circumstances.

 

If he is effective as a hitting coach, I don't mind so much about his past.

 

Sure, there will be steroid jokes made. But I don't think McGwire will be handing out needles in the clubhouse. Players would get caught. The players should be smart enough to not do steroids now because they will get caught.

[DuCross Brothers]

I saw this...I thought about when the Mets brought in Ricky Henderson to be the 3rd base coach as well as a hitting coach at one time. We all know where there ended up. So if Ricky didn't make it I will give McGwire at least a season if that.

[SouthSideRyan]

I saw this...I thought about when the Mets brought in Ricky Henderson to be the 3rd base coach as well as a hitting coach at one time. We all know where there ended up. So if Ricky didn't make it I will give McGwire at least a season if that.

 

What?

[Sammys Boombox]

 

He was a roided up power hitter whose OBP was inflated by pitchers not wanting to throw him strikes.

 

They didn't want to throw him strikes because he was such a dominant hitter...

 

at hitting the ball out of the park. He was a great slugger, but no one ever called him a great hitter.

 

So good hitters are only guys with high batting averages? That's lunacy.

 

No, of course not. But we're talking about whether a slugger is the best candidate for a hitting coach. I'd love Adam Dunn to be on my team, but I wouldn't want him as my hitting instructor.

 

Not that being a great hitter means you're going to be a great hitting coach either.

 

I'm not saying that he will be a good hitting coach. However, I am curious to how he will do because he did have a good hitting approach for his abilities. Can he teach a light-hitting middle infielder how to get on base? I don't know. Hopefully not.

 

I assure you I will be the first person to make 'roid jokes next season.

[ELCABALLO45]

It's time to let go

[NCCubFan]

I saw this...I thought about when the Mets brought in Ricky Henderson to be the 3rd base coach as well as a hitting coach at one time. We all know where there ended up. So if Ricky didn't make it I will give McGwire at least a season if that.

 

What?

His wording makes sense if he actually meant at most a season.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

There isn't a great track record for great hitters being great hitting coaches. So without knowing much of anything about McGwire the coach, I hope this continues and his past becomes a huge distraction.

[iirishluck]

Cardinals OBP were not very good.

 

Skip         .364  Fairly good
Ryan        .340           Not good enough to truly protect Albert
Albert       .443           One bright spot
Matt        .394            again good, but Matt's replacement might be Derosa
Ludwick    .329            can we say all or nothing?
Derosa      .319            give the ex-cub a flyer on being hurt usually he is closer to .360
Rasmus     .307        he stands to benefit most from Mark. 
Molina       .366            damn if only he could run faster than my grandma

 

PROS

I think Mark's philosophy of plate discipline will fit nicely compared to McRae's philospphy of hit the first thing you see.

 

Also everyone on the lineup except Ludwick and Holliday use the same basic weight transfer approach.

 

Mark studied the game like his mentor TLR and DD do. Bring the same scouting report research to the hitting aspect of the game will most certainly do well for this team.

 

CONS

Media Circus

 

 

I'd mention the inexperience and unknown factors as cons as well, but anything has to be better than McRae.

[NonProfitCow]

There won't be a media circus. Maybe when the hiring is formally announced and the first week of spring, but people just don't care about steroids anymore.

[Derwood]

There won't be a media circus. Maybe when the hiring is formally announced and the first week of spring, but people just don't care about steroids anymore.

 

Some do. I know plenty of people who are "disgusted" by the hiring and think that all of the steroid-era players should be blacklisted from getting coaching jobs.

 

I'm not endorsing this viewpoint, but it's out there.

[chopsx9]

 

So good hitters are only guys with high batting averages? That's lunacy.

 

No, of course not. But we're talking about whether a slugger is the best candidate for a hitting coach. I'd love Adam Dunn to be on my team, but I wouldn't want him as my hitting instructor.

 

Not that being a great hitter means you're going to be a great hitting coach either.

 

I'm not saying that he will be a good hitting coach. However, I am curious to how he will do because he did have a good hitting approach for his abilities. Can he teach a light-hitting middle infielder how to get on base? I don't know. Hopefully not.

 

I assure you I will be the first person to make 'roid jokes next season.

 

Is that really a good hitting approach though? I can see it on the first two strikes, but if you are taking strike three because it's not a mistake - I don't think that's a good approach. First two strikes absolutely.

 

As to the slugger vs hitter thing - I've always thought them as different. i.e hitter - Boggs slugger - Dunn. A slugger may not be a good "hitter" - i.e low average (walks again I view as a seperate skill set) but can still be an excellent offensive player. The same way simply a high average doesn't make you a great offensive player by itself. Obviously you can be both. I think it just different semantics.

[wolf stansson]

There isn't a great track record for great hitters being great hitting coaches. So without knowing much of anything about McGwire the coach, I hope this continues and his past becomes a huge distraction.

He used to be almost Phil Jackson-esque in his use/evangelism of visualization techniques as well as a video freak. I'm sure his approach will be patience + visualization + break down film.