La Russa bluffing about bringing back McGwire

Tony La Russa says that if the Cardinals are in contention on August 31st, they’ll roll out Mark McGwire as a nice little 46-year old secret weapon.

“If we’re in contention, we’ll put him on the roster Aug. 31. It’s a nice little dream. Is it likely? Probably not. I don’t think it’s a zero possibility. The point is, you’ll see him in spring training. He won’t be leaning on the batting cage chatting it up. He’ll work his (butt) off, and hitters will be thrilled he’s there helping them.”

We agree with Rob Neyer. It’s fun to think about, but it’s not going to happen.

I don’t care what kind of shape McGwire is in, he’s going to be 47 years old. There aren’t a lot of Satchell Paige type stories of guys digging in the batters box at age 47. In fact, I don’t know if anyone has ever hit a ball out of a big league park at that age.

I admit, the fan in me would love to go to the ballpark with a chance to see Big Mac take a few hacks. But it might be embarrasing for him.

It’s interesting that La Russa would so voluntarily subject his team to this lightning rod subject before the season even starts. McGwire was already sure to draw a ton of negative attention. This is only going to increase the speculation and those not so nice baseball writers can sometimes ask to those who have cheated in the past.