Rays meet with A's Ken Macha

ST. PETERSBURG -- Ken Macha's name is on the lips of a lot of people.

Oakland's bench coach interviewed Friday for the vacant Rays manager job amid reports he had been offered the Brewers job and as news broke that Tampa Bay could begin negotiating with Lou Piniella.

"It went extremely well," Rays general manager Chuck LaMar said of meeting with Macha. "He's an outstanding baseball man. I think he'll be a fine major-league manager. It went very well."

Regarded as one of the top candidates, the 52-year-old Macha has interviewed with the Rays, Cubs, Mets and Brewers.

"I thought we had a good discussion," said Macha, who has coached with the Expos, Angels and A's in addition to managing in the Red Sox's farm system for four seasons.

"We talked a lot about the organization and the direction they're going and the things that need to be done here," Macha said. "There are some similarities to the situations I've been in, so I would not be unfamiliar with what they're trying to do here."

Macha was interviewing with the Mets on Tuesday when that team made contact with the Mariners seeking permission to speak with Piniella, and he did not seem affected by Friday's developments.

"It's big news for him to come in here, and he's a great manager. Everybody would want him," Macha said of Piniella. "Sometimes you've got to live with that."

As for the report in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that the Brewers had offered him a three-year deal, Macha said he was "surprised."

"I'm sure that type of stuff was mentioned to all the candidates," he said. "Whoever caught wind of that threw that out there, and it's not fair to the other (candidates), and it's not fair to the organization."