This afternoon Mr. Lackey noted that the Brewers' open managerial position was attracting a lot of interest. A few hours later, there were two notable news items out of Milwaukee, both of which are hardly surprising in light of that significant interest:With the help of scouting director Jack Zduriencik, who may be running his own team in the near future, Melvin has done an excellent job in Milwaukee since taking over in 2002. The Brewers' optimistic future outlook is the main reason that there's so much interest in the managerial position, and also the obvious cause of Melvin's extension.Doug Melvin is staying as the Brewers' general manager but Dale Sveum will not be his manager.The Brewers just announced that Melvin's contract has been extended for three years, through the 2012 season. Melvin had a year remaining on his deal, which had been extended three years ago by owner Mark Attanasio.
The Brewers are not ready to announce who their manager will be but are ready to say it won't be Sveum, who was the interim manager for the final 12 games of the season after Ned Yost was dismissed.
That also gets at the reason Sveum, who took over as interim manager when Ned Yost was fired on September 15, won't be retained. When you have so much interest in the position, there's really no reason to stick with the guy who happened to be available on short notice in the middle of the season, although that does happen (see the Mets, with Jerry Manuel). That doesn't mean you should to ignore the interim guy, but the Brewers obviously did their homework and realized that they'll be able to hire a better candidate.
