Mark McGwire was mingling Tuesday with San Diego Padres coaches at Petco Park, where the team was having organizational meetings. The club wouldn't say why.
His appearance came amid speculation he will be the Padres' bench coach.
Various club officials, including new manager Andy Green, declined to confirm Big Mac had been hired. They didn't deny it, either.
Green said he has "nailed down" his staff. Asked if that included McGwire, he repeated that the staff was "nailed down."
An announcement could come Wednesday.
McGwire would be trading teams with Dave Roberts. Roberts, who had been the Padres' bench coach, was introduced Tuesday as the new manager of the rival Los Angeles Dodgers.
McGwire was the Dodgers' hitting coach the last three seasons under Don Mattingly, who mutually parted ways with the team last month and a week later became manager of the Miami Marlins.
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Green was hired on Oct. 29 to replace fired interim manager Pat Murphy. Murphy had been interim skipper since Bud Black was fired in mid-June.
McGwire is among many former ballplayers with Hall of Fame-caliber credentials who haven't come close to being elected to Cooperstown because of drug scandals.
In 2010, McGwire admitted he used steroids when he broke baseball's home run record in 1998. Even so, McGwire asserted he would have hit home runs even without performance-enhancing drugs.
In 2005, when called before the House Committee on Government Reform along with other former players, McGwire repeatedly refused to answer questions about steroid use, saying, "I'm not here to talk about the past."
