Joe Girardi is ‘believed to be the Phillies preferred candidate’

There’s growing evidence that if the Philadelphia Phillies have their way, Joe Girardi will become the 55th manager in franchise history.

Girardi, per multiple outlets, will meet with the Phillies for a follow-up interview Monday. Barring a poor interview, it stands to reason that the Phillies could move forward with attempting to secure Girardi not soon after.

Monday, Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia reported that the 55-year-old is “believed to be the Phillies preferred candidate for manager.” David Kaplan of ESPN 1000 and NBC Sports Chicago added that Girardi is “the clear favorite” to win the Phillies managerial search.

Sunday evening, I penned a piece suggesting that if the Phillies leave Monday’s interview with the feeling that Girardi is their No. 1 target, they should be in a good position to land him.

While the gist of that piece still stands, one thing has changed – Girardi, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, has been confirmed to be part of the second round of interviews for the New York Mets managerial job. There are believed to be four finalists for that job; Girardi, Washington Nationals first base coach Tim Bogar, ESPN analyst and former MLB first baseman/outfielder Eduardo Perez and former Mets All-Star outfielder Carlos Beltran. Andy Martino of SNY reported Saturday that Mets vice president/assistant general manager Allard Baird and special assistant to the general manager Omar Minaya are “said to be in his corner,” when referring to Beltran.

It’s unclear at this time if the Mets will ultimately decide to offer their job to Girardi, who managed the cross-town New York Yankees from 2008-2017. It’s also not known if they would expedite their managerial search – which seems to be moving at a slower pace than the Phillies – if they feared Girardi would take the Phillies job. Girardi’s potential preferences aren’t known either.

The Chicago Cubs are the other team that’s confirmed to have interviewed Girardi. MLB.com‘s Jordan Bastian wrote Sunday that Houston Astros bench coach Joe Espada and former catcher and current ESPN analyst David Ross are “widely considered the top two candidates for the post.”

Girardi, who has worked for a variety of media companies the past two seasons, said last week that expects to manage somewhere in 2020.

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