Wedge appeared in just 39 big league games as a player, but he had a 10-year run as a big league manager. Wedge skippered the Indians from 2003-09, earning American League Manager of the Year honors in 2007 and finishing second in that voting in 2005. He managed the Mariners from 2011-13 as well, though he didn’t find the same level of success he had in Cleveland. Despite that fact, he was offered a one-year contract extension for the 2014 season but rejected that offer.

Overall, Wedge has managed in 1134 Major League games and carries a 774-846 career record. He’ll bring a wide background of experience to his new role with the Shockers, where he’ll team up with another familiar face for MLB fans: Mike Pelfrey. Like Wedge, Pelfrey played his college ball at WSU, and he was named the team’s pitching coach this past offseason.

6:10pm: New York has made its decision, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets, though it’s still not clear whether it’ll be Boone or Meulens.

5:00pm: Thomson has been informed that he will not get the job, Joel Shermanof the New York Post tweets. Likewise, Beltran has been told he’s no longer under consideration, Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports tweets.

2:42pm: It is “likely” that either Boone or Meulens will receive the nod to become the next Yankees skipper, according to Bill Madden of the New York Daily News. Beltran was also among the group that “made the strongest impressions,” per the report, but Madden reasons that he is unlikely to get the job since he just wrapped up his playing career.

Meanwhile, Thomson is said to be a “leading candidate” to join the Phillies as their bench coach, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). WFAN’s Sweeny Murti had reported recently (via Twitter) that Thomson was interviewing with Philadelphia.

8:09am: The Yankees will not conduct any further interviews as they seek to fill their managerial vacancy, general manager Brian Cashman tells reporters (Twitter links via Ken Davidoff of the New York Post). The Yankees will not conduct a second round of interviews with the six candidates that have sat down with the team, either, Davidoff adds.

The latest development in what has been one of the lengthiest managerial searches in recent memory means that one of Rob Thomson, Hensley Meulens, Eric Wedge, Chris Woodward, Aaron Boone or the recently retired Carlos Beltran, who interviewed for the post yesterday, will be the Yankees’ new skipper. Unless Wedge is the ultimate selection for the Yankees, they’ll head into 2018 with a rookie skipper. More surprising is the fact that two of the final candidates, Boone and Beltran, have never even coached at the professional level.

To this point, none of the six has been characterized as any sort of favorite, though ESPN’s Andrew Marchand hears from two sources that Boone did quite well in his interview (Twitter links). Marchand also notes that he’s heard a positive review for Meulens and one for Beltran following their respective interviews as well.

Thomson, who served as the Yankees’ bench coach since 2015, would be a familiar choice for both the players and the front office. The Yankees may risk the possibility of losing him to another organization if he doesn’t ultimately get the managerial nod, as WFAN’s Sweeny Murti reported (on Twitter) this week that Thomson was also interviewing for the Phillies’ currently vacant bench coach position.

Meulens played with the Yankees from 1989-93 and has served as the Giants’ hitting coach dating back to 2010 (including in each of San Francisco’s three World Series-winning seasons). The Curacao native speaks five languages, including Spanish, Dutch and Japanese, which would serve him well as he communicates with a diverse group of players on the Yankees’ roster.

Wedge managed the Indians from 2003-09 and the Mariners from 2011-13 but hasn’t been in a big league dugout since the conclusion of that Seattle tenure. He spent two years serving as an ESPN analyst in the interim before taking a player development job with the Blue Jays prior to the 2016 season.

Woodward, the Dodgers’ third base coach, was on the Mariners’ coaching staff from 2014-15 and has been in his current position with the Dodgers since the 2016 season. He’s previously worked as a minor league infield coordinator (also with the Mariners) since retiring as a player back in 2012.

Neither Boone nor Beltran brings any field experience to the table, though that certainly doesn’t disqualify them as serious candidates for the job. Beltran only recently announced his retirement from a 20-year playing career that may very well culminate with enshrinement in Cooperstown. Boone has been a mainstay on ESPN since 2010 and enjoyed a solid 12-year playing career that included one of the most famous home runs in Yankees franchise history.

As with previous managerial searches, we’ll keep a running post on any news and rumors connected to possible candidates for the Yankees’ job.

Latest Updates

• The Yankees are not limiting themselves to the five candidates that are known to have interviewed, ESPN.com’s Jim Bowden reports (Twitter links). That seems to introduce a bit of a wild card to the search at this stage. How many additional candidates might get interviews isn’t known, but there seems to be at least one name already on the list for a sit-down. Beltran, who is discussed further below, will be brought in for a closer look, according to Steve Phillips of MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (via Twitter).

Interviewing Candidates

• Dodgers third base coach Chris Woodward is slated to interview, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand tweets. The former big league infielder has been a base coach and an infield instructor with the Dodgers and Mariners for the past four seasons. It is not known at present whether others will also get a shot at an interview, but owner Hal Steinbrenner did make clear the club will meet with “less than ten” candidates, as MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch recently tweeted. (The team’s plans for additional interview rounds are also not apparent.)
• Broadcaster Aaron Boone and Giants coach Hensley Meulens have each had their interviews, as Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported would take place. Boone’s candidacy was first reported by ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (via Twitter). The long-time big leaguer, who spent a small but memorable portion of his career with the Yankees, does not have any big league coaching experience. Meulens is also a former Yankee player; Sherman first called him someone “who could come into play” for the job.
• The Yankees have interviewed former Mariners and Indians skipper Eric Wedge for the post, tweets ESPN New York’s Andrew Marchand. The 2007 American League Manager of the Year, Wedge hasn’t been in a big league dugout since the 2013 season — his final in Seattle. Since that time, he’s spent two seasons as an analyst with ESPN and another two working with the Blue Jays’ player development department. He’s currently a field coordinator in the Toronto organization.
• Bench coach Rob Thomson sat down with the organization about the managerial opening on November 8th, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter), though it doesn’t seem as if he faced the press afterward. Thomson has been on Girardi’s staff since 2008 and previously worked in the Yankees’ player development department.

Preliminary Candidates (Interview Status Unknown)

• If Boone was an unexpected candidate, then the most recent possibility to be floated comes straight from left field — almost literally. Even as he announced the end of his playing career today, Carlos Beltran was generating buzz in relation to the Yankees managerial opening. In interviews with MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand and ESPN.com’s Marly Rivera, Beltran said he wants to manage (at least eventually) and suggested he’d have interest in the gig. Cashman did not commit to anything when asked to comment, saying that he’s “aware of [Beltran’s] interest in managing in the future” but declining to elaborate otherwise on the matter. Carlos Beltran tells Joel Sherman of the New York Post that he had a “brief conversation” with GM Brian Cashman and that he has a desire to apply his knowledge and passion for the game to a managerial role in the Majors. Beltran also indicated that he hasn’t been asked to come in for an interview, though, and Sherman suggests that the Yankees may only interview one or two additional candidates for the position, casting some doubt as to whether Beltran is truly a possibility.
• Former major league infielder/outfielder Jerry Hairston Jr. is a potential candidate, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic hears (Twitter link). Hairston was a member of the Yankees’ most recent World Series-winning team in 2009, but he doesn’t bring any coaching experience to the table. Interestingly, though, former ESPN.com writer Mark Saxon noted back in 2013 that managing could be in Hairston’s future. As Saxon detailed, Hairston is fluent in Spanish – a valuable asset for a manager – and, at the time, was a mentor to some of his younger teammates on the Dodgers. That season went down as the last of Hairston’s playing career. The 41-year-old has been working as a Dodgers broadcaster since retiring in December 2013.
• Per Sherman and MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch, some of the internal candidates likely to receive consideration include bench coach Rob Thomson, first base coach Tony Pena, minor league hitting and baserunning coach Reggie Willits, and minor league managers Al Pedrique (Triple-A), Jay Bell (advanced A-ball) and Josh Paul (short season A-ball).

Unlikely Candidates/Not In The Mix/No Longer Under Consideration

• The Yankees asked the Athletics for permission to speak with manager Bob Melvin, but were not given authorization, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter).
• Former Yankee outfielder and current Dodgers special adviser Raul Ibanez was mentioned by both Sherman and Hoch. But he decided not to pursue the position after being contacted, Ken Davidoff of the New York Post tweets.
• Recently fired Tigers manager Brad Ausmus also declined a chance to interview, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter).
• Josh Paul isn’t considered a candidate, according to George A. King III of the New York Post.
• Kevin Long was initially cited by Sherman as “a long shot,” but has since signed on to become the Nationals’ hitting coach.
• Yankees VP of baseball operations Tim Naehring tells ESPN.com’s Andrew Marchand that he isn’t interested in being considered for the job.  Naehring has worked almost entirely in front office capacities for the Reds and Yankees since he retired from playing, and Marchand suggests that Naehring is a future GM candidate for other teams.
• The Yankees have not contacted the Marlins about manager Don Mattingly, as Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reported.  Miami has announced more recently that Mattingly will remain with the organization as manager.
• The idea of Alex Rodriguez becoming the Yankees’ manager is “the longest of long shots,” according to Hoch.  Given the controversy and hard feelings that seemed to accompany A-Rod’s final years in New York, Rodriguez would indeed seem like a very unlikely fit, especially given how he has seemingly moved onto a new career in broadcasting.

Team Approach

• Yankees GM Brian Cashman discussed the search with reporters, including MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch. Cashman said that the organization prefers a “fresh voice” to connect with its young players, indicating that Girardi wasn’t the man to improve “the connectivity and the communication level of the players in that clubhouse.” The veteran executive says he did not enter the search process with a list of candidates already prepared, suggesting it’s a wide-open search.
• Interestingly, as Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports (Twitter links), the plan is for candidates to meet with the media — in part, perhaps, as part of the evaluation process. And though Cashman says he may in the past have sought out employees with whom he had previously worked, he notes that won’t be a “driving force” in this case. Sherman previously discussed that potential factor.

A few more notes from big league dugouts…

• Dusty Baker is keen to stay with the Nationals after another postseason disappointment, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag. Though there will surely be some contractual details to hammer out, it seems that the key question at this point is simply whether the Nats wish to retain Baker. We recently polled the MLBTR readership on the matter, with a slight majority suggesting that the team keep its skipper.
• As the Phillies weigh a new managerial hire, Heyman says the team is not giving out much information. But he notes that Athletics bench coach Chip Hale has been interviewed. Red Sox coach Gary DiSarcina is receiving some consideration, Heyman adds.
• Before settling on Gardenhire, the Tigers met with Eric Wedge about the team’s openings, per Jon Morosi of MLB Network (via Twitter). It isn’t clear whether the former Indians and Mariners skipper — who’s now with the Blue Jays — was under consideration for the managerial post, or whether he could still be pursued for another job in Detroit.
• The Royals have formally named Dale Sveum their new bench coach and Mitch Maier as their new first base coach, GM Dayton Moore tells reporters (Twitter links via MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan). Former first base coach Rusty Kuntz will remain with the organization but will have a new, yet-unspecified role. Sveum’s promotion means that the Royals will be in the market for a new hitting coach in addition to a new pitching coach following the decision to part ways with Dave Eiland.
• The Athletics announced that they’ve promoted Triple-A manager Ryan Christenson to the Major League staff and named him the new bench coach to manager Bob Melvin. The aforementioned Hale, who moved from third base coach to bench coach partway through the 2017 season, will return to his post as the team’s third base coach, barring an offer to manage another big league club. Christenson’s teams have gone 391-307 in his five-year tenure as a manager in Oakland’s minor league ranks.
• Red Sox hitting coach Chili Davis is drawing interest, as has previously been suggested. He is among several names in contention for the same gig with the Padres, as Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports, San Diego will also need to find a new infield coach after deciding to part ways with Ramon Vazquez. Davis is also sitting down with the Giants, Andrew Baggarly of the Bay Area News Group reports. Thus far, San Francisco hasn’t made clear its plans for the coaching staff for the coming season, but Baggarly discusses some of the considerations at play.

More from Cafardo:

• Center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. is likely to remain with the Red Sox in 2017 unless they can get a No. 1-caliber starter for him during the winter, writes Cafardo. The Red Sox and White Sox reportedly discussed Bradley and top starters Chris Sale and Jose Quintana in advance of the Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline, but Boston wasn’t willing to part with Bradley then. Dealing him in the offseason would give the Red Sox more time to find a replacement, though Bradley has been an integral part of the club in 2016 and could continue to serve as a key piece going forward. The 26-year-old has slashed .273/.354/.501 with 25 home runs in 585 plate appearances and graded well both on the base paths and in the field.
• Plenty of teams will look to hire ex-Twins general manager Terry Ryan as a special advisor in the offseason, a major league source told Cafardo. The Twins fired Ryan in July, but the 62-year-old’s overall body of work has earned him respect from his peers.
• In the event the Blue Jays move on from manager John Gibbons after the season, Cafardo lists Torey Lovullo, Eric Wedge and Bud Black as potential successors. Lovullo, Boston’s bench coach, was an assistant in Toronto from 2011-12. Wedge, who previously managed the Indians and Mariners, now works in player development with the Jays. Black managed the Padres from 2007-15 and is currently a special assistant to Angels GM Billy Eppler.
• Teams will have offseason interest in Red Sox reliever Koji Uehara, an impending free agent, a major league source informed Cafardo. One of those clubs could be the Red Sox, though Cafardo notes that Uehara would need a strong finish to return to Boston for a fifth season. The soon-to-be 42-year-old should also end up with a salary far below the $9MM he’s making now. At 3.95, Uehara has logged his highest ERA since 2009, but his 6.33 K/BB ratio is seventh among relievers who have thrown at least 40 innings this year. Uehara has amassed 41.

Here’s more from around the baseball world on Babe Ruth’s 121st birthday…

• The Blue Jays have hired Eric Wedge as a player development advisor, the team announced.  The former Indians and Mariners manager is well known to Jays president Mark Shapiro and GM Ross Atkins from their time together in Cleveland, which included an AL Central title and a run to Game Seven of the ALCS in 2007.  Wedge had been rumored to join Toronto’s front office for several weeks.
• Wedge’s hiring “has the feel of manager in waiting,” MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link) opines.  A managerial change would be rather a surprise in the wake of the Blue Jays’ AL East championship, though skipper John Gibbons has a well-known close relationship with former Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos and it isn’t unusual for a new front office to install a new face in the dugout.
• Dave Pepe, Joe Nathan’s agent, tells FOX Sports’ Jon Morosi (Twitter links) that his client is planning to pitch in 2016.  “He feels great…We are just going to look for the best opportunity and are not necessarily in any rush to sign,” Pepe said.  Nathan underwent Tommy John surgery (the second such procedure of his career) last April and said earlier this offseason that he was hoping to pitch by May or June.  Despite Nathan’s age and injury history, around 10 teams were checking in on him.
• It wouldn’t be a surprise to see a high school pitcher be selected near the top of the amateur draft, Fangraphs’ Dave Cameron writes, with perhaps even the Phillies using their first overall pick on highly-touted southpaw Jason Groome.  While only a few of the high school arms taken with the top few picks have developed into productive big leaguers, Cameron notes that this year’s draft class doesn’t yet offer much in the way of standout hitting prospects or college pitchers who could be technically “safer” choices.
• Some of the draft’s intriguing junior college prospects are profiled by ESPN.com’s Eric Longenhagen (Insider subscription required), including the children of some prominent former Major Leaguers.
• Each team’s roster is broken down by Fangraphs’ August Fagerstrom to investigate how clubs acquire their players — whether by trades, international signings, free agent signings, waiver pickups, or the amateur or Rule 5 drafts.  Fagerstrom breaks down each category by fWAR to see where each club excels at deriving value, including some notable observations about the Giants’ unmatched wealth of homegrown talent and the Cubs’ strong run of recent trades.

• Atkins will slowly ease into the job over the offseason, a transition necessitated by the late timing of his hiring and the fact that interim GM Tony LaCava has already completed many of the club’s big winter plans.  LaCava will “work us through the Winter Meetings and through this offseason as the leader of our decision-making. I’ll support and complement any way that I can,” Atkins said.
• Atkins, LaCava, Royals assistant GM Rene Francisco and a mystery candidate were the four finalists for the job.  While Atkins was cited as a potential favorite from the moment the Jays’ GM job became available, team president/CEO Mark Shapiro consulted with an executive recruitment firm to make sure he wasn’t showing any bias towards his long-time former charge from the Indians front office.
• While Atkins thinks the rotation is already strong enough to contend, he said the Jays will look to add starting depth.  With Marcus Stroman, R.A. Dickey, J.A. Happ and Marco Estrada already locked into rotation jobs, Shapiro expects “three or four” pitchers to battle for the fifth spot in Spring Training, one of whom will be the newly-acquired Jesse Chavez.
• The Jays aren’t at their payroll limit, Shapiro said, though he didn’t elaborate on any specific dollar amount.  When asked if he’d requested a payroll increase from ownership in the wake of the Blue Jays’ big attendance increase during their late-season pennant drive, Shapiro said “Yes, and that’s obviously happened.”
• Though Toronto has already addressed its biggest need in the form of rebuilding the pitching staff, that doesn’t necessarily mean the team is done for the winter.  “Because we have filled the largest holes, we are open to being very creative the rest of the offseason. So we have the ability to examine a lot of scenarios,” Shapiro said.
• David Price left the Jays to join the division rival Red Sox on a record seven-year, $217MM contract.  Toronto was never considered to be a major contender to re-sign Price since the bidding was expected to be too high, though the team had a natural interest in bringing the ace southpaw back.  “It’s never a question of do you want David Price,” Shapiro said. “That’s silly.  Of course, yes, we want David Price.  It’s a question of how do you build a championship team within the parameters you’re given.  It’s as simple as that.  We have all the resources necessary to build a championship team, but they’re not unlimited.”
• Former Indians manager Eric Wedge has been in talks to join the organization in some capacity, though Shapiro said no hiring was imminent and that Wedge wouldn’t be taking a job currently filled by another employee.
• Several front office areas will be addressed, with the hiring of a new director of Latin American operations being a “top of the list” priority for Atkins.  The Blue Jays will also look to bulk up their analytics department, as well as their training and conditioning departments.

Said Donaldson: "I'm a guy who's been downplayed my entire career. Even when I was a first-round draft pick (in 2007), I took 10 percent less than the guy before me. I just want something fair, something that's justified." Donaldson's .302/.383/.502 batting line, 24 homers and elite third base defense should earn him some AL MVP votes. Here's more from the AL West…

• Mark Trumbo might be the Angels' best trade chip in their quest for controllable young pitching this offseason, writes MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez. The Mariners, Pirates and Royals all had interest in Trumbo this past July, according to Gonzalez, and more teams figure to be interested over the winter. Trumbo told Gonzalez that he doesn't fear the change that would come with a trade like he would have earlier in his career.
• Mariners manager Eric Wedge, who has told the team he won't be back in 2014, told reporters (including Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times) that he wouldn't even accept a five-year extension from the team. Wedge cited a difference between his vision for the team and the vision of GM Jack Zduriencik, president Chuck Armstrong and CEO Howard Lincoln. Wedge felt the team needed to supplement young talent with proven talent and told Baker that he didn't have as much say in personnel decisions as he'd have liked.
• A statement released by the Astros explained the team's position in the wake of a report that Comcast filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition on behalf of the Comcast SportsNet Houston network that the Astros co-own with the Houston Rockets and NBC Universal. Brian McTaggart has the gist of the statement in an article for MLB.com. The statement alleges that Comcast improperly filed the petition to try to block the Astros from terminating the club's media rights agreement with Houston Regional Sports Network. "We will continue to work toward obtaining full carriage so that all of our fans are able to watch the Astros games while making sure that the Astros are able to compete for championships," the statement read.

Aaron Steen contributed to this post.

• GM Rick Hahn of the White Sox doesn't feel his predecessor, Kenny Williams (who was promoted to executive vice president after the 2012 season), left the organization in a tough spot, reports MLB.com's Scott Merkin. "He left the position of general manager with a club that was in first place for [117] days," says Hahn. "He left us in a position to have a nine-digit payroll. You are not going to hear any gripes about the condition he left us in." Hahn points to the White Sox's crop of starting pitchers — which includes Chris Sale, Jose Quintana and Hector Santiago — as evidence that the White Sox aren't in that unfavorable a position.
• Manager Eric Wedge says that "the kids," meaning young players, and their struggles with fundamentals have been a big part of the Mariners' struggles during his tenure. But Dave Cameron of USS Mariner points out that, while the Mariners have given playing time to lots of young hitters in recent years, those hitters — including players like Kyle Seager and Brad Miller — have mostly played at least passably, if not well. It's hitters over 25 who have really struggled. Cameron doesn't address how the Mariners' young pitchers have done, but it's clear that the Mariners' young hitters, at least, don't deserve a large portion of the blame for the team's performance.

• It's unclear what the Royals will do with Luke Hochevar next season, Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star writes. He has had surprising success out of the bullpen this year, but it's questionable whether a team like the Royals ought to continue to employ him as a setup man after he gets a raise on his $4.6MM 2013 salary in arbitration this offseason. Given that Ervin Santana and Bruce Chen will be free agents, the Royals could also use Hochevar in the rotation, even though he mostly struggled in his career as a starter. Dutton also raises the possibility that the Royals could trade closer Greg Holland and use Hochevar in that role.
• It would be surprising if manager Eric Wedge returned to the Mariners next season, but that doesn't mean the team's problems are primarily his fault, writes Dave Cameron of USS Mariner. In fact, Cameron argues, firing Wedge would merely be part of a larger pattern in which the team fires an employee in order to provide scapegoats for the organization's mistakes. And if the Mariners were to fire Wedge, qualified replacements would not see the position as an attractive one, due to the risk that GM Jack Zduriencik will be fired and his replacement would want to bring in his own manager.

• There are very few viable options for the Dodgers as they look to add a middle-of-the-order bat, tweets Buster Olney of ESPN.com. Many of the players currently available are either fringe types or vastly overpaid for their services (like this one). 
• Olney tweets that Cubs first baseman/outfielder Bryan LaHair has been scouted by the Dodgers, among other teams, but Los Angeles has reservations about his defense. Nonetheless, the Dodgers' need for a quality bat could lead to them overlooking LaHair's shortcomings and acquiring the power hitter before the trade deadline.
• Mariners manager Eric Wedge doesn't like the progress his young team has made this season, but he's not ready to start sending players to Triple-A, writes Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times. "It's frustrating because I know these guys are a much better offensive club than what we're seeing them do here at home,'' Wedge said. "I don't want to hear anything about the fences, or this, that and the other. It's about what they're doing at home plate and putting up good at-bats and hitting the ball hard."
• The Angels have a special assignment scout watching the Reds–Brewers series to check up on a few players including Francisco Rodriguez, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports.com. The Angels entered Wednesday night's action four and a half games behind the Rangers for first place in the American League West.