Mets’ managerial search begins to take shape

The lockout has given the Mets a chance to begin their managerial hiring process, which was pushed back to December due to their egregiously long GM search. The names the Mets are eyeing have been bandied about for a while, and now today they reportedly began the process of formally interviewing and/or requesting to interview prospects.

The list of names that we know the Mets are strongly interested in or are already set to interview are as follows: Rays bench coach Mark Quatraro, Astros bench coach Joe Espada, Pirates bench coach and former player Don Kelly, Buck Showalter, and Brad Ausmus. The Mets have been given permission to interview Quatraro and are expected to receive it for Espada,…