The Arizona Diamondbacks have chosen one of their four finalists to fill the team's manager position while the Rangers will no longer interview any new candidates. On the other hand, the Minnesota Twins are taking their sweet old time.
As the Rangers and Twins continue their search, the Diamondbacks reportedly hired Oakland Athletics bench coach Chip Hale as their manager. The team is expected to make the announcement later today, but this comes as no surprise since Hale, Jim Tracy, Phil Nevin and Sandy Alomar, Jr. were the four finalists for the job as of October 10. Hale served as the third-base and infield coach for the D-Backs from 2007-2009 and then was the Mets third-base coach from 2009-2010 before the Athletics hired him in 2011. Hale is now the eighth manager since the team came into the MLB in 1998.
Texas is the next closest ball club to choosing their manager. Rangers general manager Jon Daniels reportedly interviewed the final two candidates last week and expects to announce the team's new manager within the next seven days. The team concluded the interviewing process with former big leaguer Alex Cora as well as Tim Bogar, the team's bench coach who filled in as interim manager when Ron Washington resigned early in September. The other six candidates include Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux, Triple-A manager Steve Buechele, Red Sox bench coach Torey Lovullo, Pirates bench coach Jeff Banister, White Sox third base coach Joe McEwing and Indians bullpen coach Kevin Cash.
With Arizona and Texas making moves to quickly prepare for the 2015 season, the Minnesota Twins and general manager Terry Ryan are diligently searching for Ron Gardenhire's replacement. Ryan has disclosed little information regarding the team's manager search, and the only reports that have surfaced involved the teams speaking with infield coach Paul Molitor, Class A manager Doug Mientkiewicz and Triple-A manager Gene Glynn. The team also received permission to speak with Hale and Lovullo last week and Sandy Alomar Jr. is now expected to interview.
"I've just started," Ryan said regarding the manager search, in this St. Paul Pioneer Press article. "I'm not anywhere near done. The last couple of days I've gathered information that will be very helpful down the line. We're in the initial process here, not the finale. I've made strides, but it's going to be a process; we have a lot of sorting out and a lot of talking to do, and a lot of information is yet to be gathered, so I've been doing a lot of that in between the real interviews."
The Rangers and Twins will likely have their manager position filled before the 2014 season officially ends in the next couple of weeks, but don't be surprised if the Twins wait longer.