Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias told The Baltimore Sun he's interviewed six managerial candidates, but the team wants to be as "deliberate as possible with a hire this big."
Despite the fact the Orioles are at the winter meetings without a manager, Elias says he won't rush the process of replacing Buck Showalter, who was fired after a 47-115 season.
"It's not so important that I would fast-forward the hiring process beyond what it should entail, just to get this person here in time for these meetings," Elias told The Sun.
Elias did not divulge the identities of the six candidates, but according to The Sun and other sources, the candidates include four bench coaches, in Brandon Hyde (Cubs), Chip Hale (Nationals), Mike Redmond (Rockies) and Manny Acta (Mariners), along with Diamondbacks vice president of player development Mike Bell and Royals quality control/catching coach Pedro Grifol.
Acta has six seasons of managerial experience, with the Indians and Nationals, while Hale (two seasons with the Diamondbacks) and Redmond (three years with the Marlins) also have experience leading a club.
"I'm very confident that our manager will come from the list of candidates that we've interviewed so far," Elias told The Sun. "I'm not sure that there will be a second in-person interview round. We spent plenty of time with these people, and we've done a lot of phone work, and we're also cognizant to the fact that we're a little pressed for time and we want to be courteous to other teams around the league who are trying to get their staffs set, and we also have a major league staff to hire subsequent to this hire.
"Being as expeditious and deliberate as possible with a hire this big."