The New York Mets will begin interviewing for their vacant managerial position Thursday when in-house candidates Bob Melvin and Dave Jauss open the process, the team announced.
Melvin, 49, managed the Seattle Mariners from 2003 to 2004 and the Arizona Diamondbacks from 2005 to 2009, posting a combined 493-508 record. He served as a scout for the Mets this past season, monitoring the AL East and West divisions.
Melvin spends his offseasons living in Manhattan, where his daughter Alexi studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute in Union Square.
"We have summers in Arizona and winters in New York," Melvin said in March before a Mets spring training game against the Atlanta Braves, as he began his tenure as a Mets scout. "You'd think it would be the other way around in a perfect world, but that's the way we've done it."
Jauss, 53, spent last season as Jerry Manuel's bench coach with the Mets. He previously served in the same capacity for two seasons apiece with the Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers. He managed Licey in the Dominican Republic last winter.
Jauss' managerial experience includes two seasons in the minor leagues with the Montreal Expos organization, in 1992 with Class A West Palm Beach and in '94 with Double-A Harrisburg.
Mets GM Sandy Alderson said Tuesday that the Mets would begin conducting interviews with internal candidates this week, while interviews with candidates not currently affiliated with the organization would begin next week. Other internal candidates should include third-base coach Chip Hale and Class A Brooklyn manager Wally Backman.
Adam Rubin covers the Mets for ESPNNewYork.com.