That title reads like a ’60s animated Christmas movie.
But before the holidays officially arrive, the Mets will look to hire a manager as their players have been locked out by MLB owners during collective bargaining agreement negotiations.
The team has reportedly interviewed six candidates before moving to a second round of interviews, which should commence as soon as tomorrow. Steve Cohen will be involved in the next round of conversations after Billy Eppler held the first round of talks.
Here are the six candidates.
Buck Showalter, Former Manager
Likely the most popular candidate for manager among Mets fans (especially on this here website), Buck Showalter interviewed for the Mets’ manager job on Wednesday. The team was reportedly impressed with the 65-year-old who last managed in 2018.
Though he doesn’t have a strong postseason record through 20 seasons (9-14, .391), Showalter is highly respected throughout baseball among former and current players.
Showalter has managed over 3,000 games and is 1551-1517 (.506) during the regular season across the Yankees, Diamondbacks, Rangers and Orioles.
Joe Espada, Astros Bench Coach
Joe Espada interviewed with the Mets on either Tuesday or Wednesday.
He’s been the Houston Astros bench coach since 2018 (the season after the cheating scandal), having stints with the Marlins (2010-2013) and Yankees (2015-2017) before that as their third base coaches. A Puerto Rican native, he also coached on the 2013 and 2017 Puerto Rican teams in the World Baseball Classic, the latter which featured current Mets like Francisco Lindor and Seth Lugo.
Espada has gotten and handful of interviews with teams in the last couple seasons but hasn’t been chosen just yet.
Read MMO’s full manager profile of Espada here.
Brad Ausmus, Former Manager
Brad Ausmus got the interview process kicked off with an interview on Monday.
The former major-league catcher has been a manager for a total of five seasons–four with the Tigers (2014-2017) and one with the Angels (2019), where he was hired by Mets general manager Billy Eppler. Ausmus had been a special assistant to Eppler season prior.
The New Haven, Conn., native managed just two winning teams in his five seasons, and his most loaded squad–the 2014 Tigers–lost in the first round to the Buck Showalter-managed Baltimore Orioles.
He, like Espada, has also dabbled in the international coaching waters, managing the Israeli baseball team in 2012 in their World Baseball Classic qualification process.
Matt Quatraro, Rays Bench Coach
Matt Quatraro–MMO executive editor Mike Mayer’s favorite name to spell of the bunch–has been with the Tampa Bay Rays since they had “Devil” in their name (save for a couple seasons).
He was drafted by the team in 1996 and spent basically all of his minor-league playing career with the team. He’s spent most of his coaching career with them too–first as a minor-league manager, then minor-league hitting coordinator–until he went to the Cleveland organization to coach their major-league team. He came back after four years with Cleveland and has been the Rays’ bench coach under Kevin Cash since then.
Read MMO’s full manager profile of Quatraro here.
Bob Geren, Dodgers Bench Coach
An old Met!
Bob Geren was the Mets bench coach under four years of Terry Collins‘ administration (2012-2015), an era that succeeded his five-year run as manager of the Oakland A’s. He was 334-376 (.470) in his time in Oakland.
After leaving the Mets, Geren went to the Dodgers and has been their bench coach under Dave Roberts since then, during which the team has won a World Series and had sustained success.
It was reported way back when that Geren left the Mets to be closer to his family in California, so it remains to be seen–should he be offered a job–that he actually comes back to the East Coast.
Clayton McCollough, Dodgers First Base Coach
McCollough was the “mystery” final candidate reported about on Wednesday, and he had his interview Thursday.
The 41-year-old spent a couple years playing minor league baseball out of college but soon made the move to coaching. He spent years in the Toronto Blue Jays minor-league system before making his way over to the Dodgers as their minor league fielding coordinator.
He was named team’s first base coach at the start of the 2021 season.
