Marlins make offer to McKeon to come back as interim manager

Jack McKeon is the choice to be the Marlins' interim manager.

An announcement is expected early Monday. McKeon, 80, is expected to accept an offer to manage the team through the end of the year and will be the oldest manager in the majors.

After the season, the top candidates are expected to be White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen and possibly Bobby Valentine, a former Mets and Rangers skipper and current ESPN analyst.

This will be McKeon's second time taking over the the Marlins in the middle of a season. He was famously brought on in June 2003, taking the team from 16-22 all the way to an improbable World Series title. More recently, he had been working as a consultant with the team. Guillen was a third-base coach for McKeon's 2003 Marlins.

McKeon replaces Edwin Rodriguez, himself an interim manager after taking over for Fredi Gonzalez last season. Rodriguez was given the full-time gig to start this year but resigned after a 1-17 start to June. The Marlins occupy last place in the NL East at 32-40, 12 1/2 games behind the MLB-leading Phillies.

Known as "Trader Jack," McKeon is still held in very high regard by team executives, including owner Jeffrey Loria. Loria hired him personally in 2003 after an interview at the iconic Rascal House Restaurant in Sunny Isles Beach, which has since been torn down. One Marlins official said, "We all owe Jack a lot," referring to the 2003 championship.

McKeon will be the oldest manager since Connie Mack, the winningest manager of all time who led the Philadelphia A's from 1901 until 1950, retiring when he was 87.