LaMar gives Foley chance to make pitch for Rays manager

"I thought it went well, but it's not really what I think,'' Tampa Bay 3rd-base coach Tom Foley says; Yankees 1st-base coach Mazzilli next.

By MARC TOPKIN, Times Staff Writer

© St. Petersburg Times
published October 11, 2002

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Tom Foley spent his first six seasons in the Tampa Bay organization working with minor-league players before becoming third-base coach.

Thursday he got the chance to talk with general manager Chuck LaMar about managing the major-league team.

"I thought it went well, but it's not really what I think," Foley said of the 31/2-hour session. "There were a lot of questions and we exchanged some ideas."

Foley was the second candidate to interview, after bench coach Billy Hatcher. Today, Yankees first-base coach Lee Mazzilli comes to town. Yankees third-base coach Willie Randolph interviews Monday, Rays Triple-A manager Bill Evers on Tuesday and Oakland bench coach Ken Macha on Sept. 18.

LaMar may do 10 or more interviews, with former Diamondbacks and Yankees manager Buck Showalter and former Red Sox bench coach Mike Stanley among the leading possibilities to replace Hal McRae.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman had good things to say Thursday about both of his candidates.

"Willie has won championships as a player and won championships as a coach," Cashman said from New York. "Obviously, he's worked with Joe Torre and Buck Showalter. The only thing he doesn't have is the experience of managing. He's New York battle-tested. He's probably been through every situation you could experience in this game. ... Maz obviously hasn't been a major-league coach as long as Willie, but he has minor-league managerial experience (three years) and he played in New York. He won a championship as a player with the Mets and won as a coach with the Yankees."