Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009

Cards say McGwire will answer questions about steroid use

Say they won't hide him from the media

ST. LOUIS -- With the hiring Monday of Mark McGwire as the St. Louis Cardinals' new hitting instructor came the inevitable questions about his alleged use of steroids.

McGwire, 46, did not attend the Busch Stadium press conference where Cardinals manager Tony La Russa announced that McGwire had replaced Hal McRae.

Without McGwire, La Russa, Cardinals Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. and General Manager John Mozeliak fielded queries about how McGwire will handle the potential public-relations nightmare that awaits him the first time he speaks with the media.

"He understands there's going to be a time where he's going to have to talk to the media in a large forum," Mozeliak said. "By no means is he trying to hide. By no means are we trying to hide him. We will advocate for him to (talk to the media) sooner than later."

Mozeliak, however, envisions the Cardinals holding a teleconference with McGwire and the media, rather than a formal press conference like the one that transpired Monday to announce La Russa's return as manager and the addition of McGwire to the coaching staff.

"We're going to make Mark available," Mozeliak said. "How he answers questions is really going to be up to him."

Suspicion about McGwire's use of performance-enhancing drugs became widespread in March 2005 when he told a Congressional hearing on Capitol Hill, "I'm not here to talk about the past."

Since his abrupt retirement at the end of the 2001 season, McGwire has largely been out of the limelight, living in California with his wife, the former Stephanie Slemer, of Glen Carbon, and their two sons, Max, 7, and Mason, 5.

"It's a good time in his life. His kids are now in school, his wife wants him to do it, he agreed to do it," La Russa said of McGwire, who batted .263 with 583 homers in his 16-year career, including a then-single-season record 70 with the Cardinals in 1998.

But as he steps back into the public arena, McGwire initially could be bombarded anew with questions on a troublesome topic in baseball that hasn't gone away.

"Mark's going to be interviewed, but we don't think it's necessary for him to come in here," La Russa said. "At no time during our conversations did we talk about, 'Well, what job can we give to you where it's harder for the press to get to you?'

"No, he's the hitting coach. He'll be available just like the other hitting coaches have been over the years."

La Russa's stance on McGwire hasn't changed. The two were in Oakland when McGwire broke into the big leagues late in the 1986 season, and La Russa said McGwire worked tirelessly to develop his 6-foot-5, 225-pound frame.

"I've watched him work; I've seen him get stronger," he said. "In fact, when you see him, you're not going to see a guy that's wilted down to nothing. He's as big and strong as ever. He works out every day.

"So I've already said what I believe. He's a product of hard work, a lot of discipline with his diet and all that stuff."

La Russa, however, expressed disappointment in 2005 with McGwire's comments at the congressional hearing, and said it appeared he had been coached.

La Russa agreed with Mozeliak and DeWitt that McGwire must address the steroids topic in the near future.

"At some point, he's going to have to talk and answer," La Russa said. "I don't know what he's going to say. My anticipation is that after those first contacts, it's going to be about his coaching. I'm looking forward to that, when we get past that point where he answers whatever he wants to answer and gets back to the baseball side."

But La Russa added: "One of the reasons he was hired was not to give members of the media a chance to get at him. He's here to coach hitters. He'll do whatever he wants to do --or should do --on (discussing steroids)."

DeWitt said McGwire seems prepared to face the media.

"There was never a discussion or a point to be made with him about, 'Help keep me away from the media,'" DeWitt said. "He knows at some point he's going to have to face up to it. But once he does that, he'll move forward. He's capable of that."

La Russa said McGwire has the potential to be a first-rate coach, yet at the same time emphasized that McRae had not failed.

"We're replacing a man that I have great respect for, Hal McRae, who has done a very good job here for five years," La Russa said. "It was not anything that Hal did not do; I thought Hal did a good job. I know I don't have a lot of years left to manage, and I wanted to take this opportunity to (hire) a guy that I think has a very special talent."

McGwire has worked with several big-league hitters in recent seasons, enjoying success with some (the Cardinals' Matt Holliday and Skip Schumaker and Colorado's Garrett Atkins) and not as much with others (former Cardinal Chris Duncan and Oakland's Bobby Crosby. He also tutored Albert Pujols when Pujols was a rookie with the Cardinals in 2001.

La Russa has watched some of McGwire's sessions.

"He's got a basic A-B-C approach that really works," La Russa said. "When he talks about how you concentrate and handle pressure, it's classic, good stuff, and our hitters will benefit."

La Russa didn't want to be specific about what adjustments Cardinals hitters will make under McGwire.

"I do believe our execution can be better," he said. "It's a combination of aggressiveness with real good sense. It's the stroke. It's understanding. It's a process. We can improve the process and the execution.

"Mark's not going to hang around the cage watching BP (batting practice). He's going to work in spring training, early morning, until the last guy leaves in the afternoon. It's a part of him. That work ethic is going to translate into a terrific coach."