Red Sox To Interview Dale Sveum, Pete Mackanin For Managing Position

We have our first two candidates for the Red Sox' vacant managing position: Dale Sveum and Pete Mackanin. According to Rob Bradford, citing a major league source, each will interview for the position in the coming week.

Red Sox fans will of course remember Dale Sveum as the Tim Bogar (or Wendell Kim) of the '04 and '05 seasons when his ability to wave runners in with little apparent regard for human life. Of course, his judgement at third in the thick of things is probably not the best indication of his managing talents. He does come from a pretty relaxed and loose clubhouse over in Milwaukee, so if the Sox are looking to bring that environment back to Boston, he might be the right guy to do it given his connections to the few remaining veterans of '04-'05.

On the other hand, Sveum couldn't cut it as the Brewers' manager after Ned Yost was fired. His one real lasting legacy that I can remember is running Sabathia ragged as the Brewers chased after a playoff spot. The situations are obviously different given the relative desperation of the franchise at the time and Sabathia's contract situation, so I wouldn't necessarily hold that against him.

The other man named, Pete Mackanin, had his name come up a few times before it was even clear the Sox would need a new manager. Mackanin had a solid performance in his short time managing a pretty mediocre Reds team and in recent years has acted as the bench coach for the Phillies.