Mets to interview Twins bench coach Derek Shelton, reports say
DETROIT, MI - SEPTEMBER 24: Willians Astudillo #64 is congratulated by Derek Shelton #8 of the Minnesota Twins after scoring against the Detroit Tigers on a double by Eddie Rosario during the seventh inning at Comerica Park on September 24, 2019 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images) Credit: Getty Images/Duane Burleson
Add another name to the list of Mets managerial candidates: Derek Shelton.
Shelton is the bench coach for the Twins, whose season ended this week with a loss to the Yankees in the ALDS, and will meet with the Mets next week, according to multiple reports Thursday.
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Add another name to the list of Mets managerial candidates: Derek Shelton.
Shelton is the bench coach for the Twins, whose season ended this week with a loss to the Yankees in the ALDS, and will meet with the Mets next week, according to multiple reports Thursday.
He joins several others known to be getting in-person interviews to replace Mickey Callaway: former Yankees and Marlins manager Joe Girardi, Yankees special assistant to the general manager Carlos Beltran and Diamondbacks vice president of player development Mike Bell.
Last offseason, Shelton was reportedly a finalist for the manager openings in Minnesota and Texas. When the Twins went with Rocco Baldelli, Shelton stayed on for a second year as bench coach.
Shelton is the only member of the foursome set to interview — a field that likely will grow before the Mets make a decision — who spent this past season on a major-league coaching staff. He has been a coach in the bigs for 15 seasons, starting as the Indians’ hitting coach in 2005. Since then, he has had stops in Tampa Bay (2010-16), Toronto (2017) and Minnesota (since 2018).
Like Girardi and Beltran, Shelton has deep Yankees ties. He spent his brief minor-league career (1992-93) with the Mets’ crosstown rivals, and after retiring as a player joined the Yankees’ farm system as a coach and eventually a manager. On his 2001 GCL Yankees and 2002 Staten Island Yankees rosters was a teenaged Robinson Cano, who was just starting his professional career that brought him to Queens last offseason.
The New York Post was the first to report Shelton’s planned meeting with the Mets.