Well, this is weird and awesome; it's all over the internet, most recently on Derrick Goold's twitter, but still no confirmation at press time. I hope he's not sent to negotiate Albert Pujols's next contract, but Enigmatically Sized Mac—prepare for a ridiculous muscles-watch campaign for the next several months, unless he's extremely forthcoming about The Past in the interim (Khalil Greene is already putting together a long-sleeved undershirts care package)—seems to have a serious interest in the mechanics and technique of hitting, and while a player's skill-set is no guarantee of future baseball enlightenment (Joe Morgan and John Kruk both had 110+ walk years), the McGwire method, which in Matt Holliday's unsuccessful case required quieting that big leg kick, seems like a disciplined change of pace from Hal McRae, whose philosophy seemed to involve the words "grip" and "rip" and a small thesaurus.
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.