Mets conclude managerial interviews by sitting down with Buck Showalter

All that is left now is a decision.

The Mets concluded their managerial interview process Friday when Buck Showalter sat down with owner Steve Cohen and other executives during his second meeting, a source said.

Showalter was the last of the Mets’ finalists to interview, after Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro (Tuesday) and Astros bench coach Joe Espada (Thursday). The talks were in the evening to accommodate Cohen’s schedule running his hedge fund.

A decision could come at any point. Team officials have not said when they hope to make a hire.

Whether an answer comes this weekend or next week, a conclusion is near in the Mets’ quest for the last big required piece of their offseason, a replacement for Luis Rojas, who was let go a day after the season ended.

Hiring a manager also will complete a thoroughly eventful first half of the offseason. In the past month, the Mets have hired a general manager (Billy Eppler), spent a quarter-billion on players (a group headlined by Max Scherzer) and now are close to deciding on a manager. That process, though technically in its third month, has been a focus for only the past two weeks, with the Mets able to do little else with their major-league team because of the lockout.

The choice of Espada versus Quatraro versus Showalter is in part a question of how much Mets decision-makers value experience in the dugout.

Showalter, 65, would be the Mets’ most experienced managerial hire since their first, Casey Stengel, who was a veteran of 21 major-league seasons before joining the fledgling franchise ahead of its 1962 debut. Showalter led the Yankees, Diamondbacks, Rangers and Orioles for 20 seasons.

Espada and Quatraro, conversely, have never done the job in the majors.

Experience is not a prerequisite.

"You’re always looking for leadership. That’s important. Personal character. Competence between the lines. Those are the basic principles," team president Sandy Alderson, who has been involved in this search, said last month of the characteristics. "Leadership is the most important thing, making sure we have somebody who can keep players motivated for 180 days or so, which is not an easy task, and managing everything that goes on between Day 1 and Day 182."

When the Mets make a hire, he won’t be able to talk to his new players until the lockout ends, but he'll be able to fill out his coaching staff. They have just one name there, pitching coach Jeremy Hefner.

The Oakland A’s are the only other major-league team still in need of a manager.