Manfred understands why Brewers, Marlins skipped interviews

NEW YORK - New baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred understands why the Milwaukee Brewers and Miami Marlins did not interview any minority candidates when they hired new managers this month.

Speaking at a news conference Thursday after his first owners' meeting as the sport's head, Manfred said ''if a club has an internal candidate that they're so sure about that they're willing to forego the opportunity to interview anyone, forcing people through an interview process doesn't really make a lot of sense.''

Milwaukee replaced Ron Roenicke with Craig Counsell and Miami general manager Dan Jennings took over from Mike Redmond.

Then-Commissioner Bud Selig told teams in April 1999 they had to consider minority candidates when hiring a manager, GM, assistant GM, director of player development or director of scouting.

MLB managers identifying as a racial minority dropped from five in 2014 to two this year.