Brewers hammering out extension with GM Melvin

Brewers general manager Doug Melvin is expected to work out a new contract to return to the team, SI.com has learned.

While Brewers owner Mark Attanasio stated his desire to extend Melvin's deal immediately following the team's defeat in the Division Series to the eventual NL champion Phillies, there have been whispers floated in baseball circles that Melvin could wind up as a candidate for the vacant Mariners GM job. Sources, though, indicate instead that Attanasio and Melvin expect to complete a new deal to keep him in Milwaukee. Melvin had a year to go on his contract before he and Attanasio agreed to start talking about a new deal following Milwaukee's first postseason appearance in 26 years.

With Melvin now expected out of the running for the Seattle job, the leading candidates for that GM job include Tony Bernazard of the Mets, Tony LaCava of the Blue Jays, Kim Ng of the Dodgers and Jerry DiPoto and Peter Woodfork of the Diamondbacks.

Meanwhile, the fate of Brewers manager Dale Sveum remains undecided. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported that Melvin recently gave an informal interview to Sveum for the managerial job but didn't indicate whether he intended to interview others.

Sveum was 7-5 after Melvin hired him following Attanasio's call to make a managerial switch and fire Ned Yost with 12 games left in the season. The Brewers were in the midst of their second September slide in two years, but they rebounded slightly under Sveum. However, there appears to be no guarantee he'll be back as manager.