Report: New Yankees Manager Will Be Either Aaron Boone or Hensley Meulens
The Yankees are done interviewing candidates for manager and will pick a new skipper from a pool of six men, general manager Brian Cashman told reporters Friday.
Yankees postseason hero and current ESPN analyst Aaron Boone, Giants bench coach Hensley Meulens, Dodgers third base coach Chris Woodward, former Indians and Mariners manager Eric Wedge, Yankees bench coach Rob Thomson and the newly retired Carlos Beltran have all interviewed for the job. Beltran was the last candidate to interview, speaking with the team on Wednesday.
Boone, Meulens and Beltran gave the most impressive interviews, Bill Madden of the New York Daily News reports, and the final pick is likely to be either Boone or Meulens.
Beltran “might be the favorite,” Madden writes, “[i]f he hadn’t just retired and had spent perhaps just one year as a coach or minor league manager.” Beltran, though, is expected to be on the Yankees’ coaching staff next season or act as an advisor to Cashman, according to Madden.
Boone, like Beltran, does not have any coaching experience, but the ESPN analyst grew up around baseball with his father Bob, a former manager.
Meulens, like Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius, is from Curacao and forged a relationship with Gregorius during the World Baseball Classic. He also played five seasons for the Yankees.
Cashman said he consulted with Alex Rodriguez to get his opinion on the sort of candidates the Yankees should look at. Rodriguez did not, despite Jennifer Lopez’s endorsement, appear to be interested in managing the team himself, Cashman said.
Cashman will not interview any of the six candidates for a second time. The next step will be to recommend his pick to team ownership.
