Reports: Mariners interview Jason Varitek, Charlie Montoyo for managerial opening

Add two more names to the list of managerial candidates the Mariners are considering.

On Monday, Ken Davidoff of the New York Post Tweeted that Rays third-base coach Charlie Montoyo had interviewed for the job. Early Tuesday came the news from Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com that former MLB catcher Jason Varitek had also interviewed.

Two interesting names with very different backgrounds. Montoyo is a baseball lifer who after a 10-year minor-league career had the smallest of cups of coffee with just five big-league at-bats. Varitek played 15 big-league seasons, was the captain of the Red Sox and won two World Series rings. Montoyo has had an 18-year minor-league managerial career in the Rays organization and is the winningest manager in Durham Bulls history. Varitek, who retired before the 2012 season, has been a special assistant to the Red Sox general manager and a spring-training instructor.

It would appear that Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto has cast a wide net.

Other names that have been linked to the team include Phil Nevin and Alex Cora. Many believe the leading candidate is Tim Bogar, a former teammate of Dipoto’s with the Mets and an assistant under Dipoto in Anaheim. Bogar brings a mix of playing, organizational and managerial experience, having held positions with the Red Sox, Rays and Rangers organizations since his playing days. As interim manager of the Rangers, he went 14-8 and drew good reviews from both players and staff for the year as both bench coach and manager.

While Bogar has been the favorite since the day Dipoto took the job with Seattle, there could be a twist as Bob Dutton of The News Tribune reports that Dipoto plans to hire Rockies mental skills coach Andy McKay to replace Chris Gwynn, who resigned two weeks ago as the Mariners’ farm director. It was widely believed that Dipoto would bring Scott Servais, an assistant general manager in Anaheim, to Seattle to fill that role. The twist comes as Servais is reported to be a candidate to fill the Padres’ managerial vacancy. Could he be a candidate and a strong one at that here?

We should know soon enough. The process for hiring the new manager is well underway, and while MLB prefers teams to not make major announcements during the World Series, it is not out of the question that we could hear something before the start of the series or on an off day.

Notes

• The Mariners will need to hire a new coaching staff once they have a manager in place, and Bob Nightengale of USA Today Tweeted an interesting note. Longtime Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux’s contract is up, and while he has been invited back, there has been no indication as to whether or not he has agreed to return. Could be something, could be nothing. I have no idea if the Mariners would be interested in Maddux but other teams certainly would and this would be a significant loss for Texas.

• James Paxton made his second start in fall ball on Monday and went 3 1/3 innings, giving up three runs (one earned) on five hits, one walk and three strikeouts. He threw 74 pitches and committed a throwing error. Not a stellar performance but not of huge concern as staying healthy and getting innings are the most important priorities for him right now. Still, at some point you want to see him with a more reasonable number of pitches per inning and better fielding of his position.

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