NEW YORK (AP) - Mets general manager Sandy Alderson began interviewing candidates for the team's managerial opening, meeting with Bob Melvin and Dave Jauss.
Alderson says the club has scheduled interviews with Wally Backman, Chip Hale and Terry Collins. They will all meet with Alderson this weekend in California.
Backman, the second baseman for the Mets' 1986 World Series championship club, was the manager of New York's Class-A team in Brooklyn this year. Hale was the Mets' third base coach and Collins was the minor league field coordinator.
Alderson says his meetings Thursday with Melvin and Jauss, the bench coach for Jerry Manuel who was fired at the end of the team's second straight losing season, were productive.