It's official

It's on the Brewers website. Ken Macha will be the new manager.

From MilwaukeeBrewers.com

10/30/08 1:00 PM ET

Brewers to name Macha manager

Former A's skipper won two division titles with Oakland

By Adam McCalvy / MLB.com

MILWAUKEE -- Six years after Brewers general manager Doug Melvin first asked Ken Macha to be the team's field manager, Macha is poised to accept.

The Brewers called a 2 p.m. CT press conference Thursday during which they will name Macha, 58, as the 16th skipper in club history. Macha passed on the Brewers' offer in October 2002 to remain in Oakland, but quickly became the leading candidate earlier this month as Melvin searched for a replacement for Ned Yost and Dale Sveum. Macha beat out former Mets manager Willie Randolph and former D-backs skipper Bob Brenly for the job.

Before interviewing those candidates, Melvin flew to Phoenix to meet with Sveum, who managed the Brewers for the final 12 regular season games in 2008 after Yost was dismissed. The team won the National League Wild Card under Sveum, but Melvin decided he wanted a full-time manager with more Major League experience.

The Brewers decided on Macha as their choice as early as Sunday and were waiting for the World Series to end to make the formal announcement. The Phillies did the Brewers a favor by winning the championship on Wednesday night; had the Series shifted back to Tampa Bay, the Brewers were considering asking Major League Baseball to waive the moratorium on making news so they could name Macha on Thursday. Melvin leaves town for the Managers Meetings on Saturday and wanted the staff settled before then.

The Brewers also were expected to make some announcements Thursday about the coaching staff. Sveum could be back as third-base or bench coach, and Melvin also encouraged Macha to retain pitching coach Mike Maddux, bullpen coach Bill Castro and first-base coach Ed Sedar.

Macha was one of five candidates for the Brewers job after the 2002 season, when Melvin was brought in as GM to turn around a franchise coming off a 106-loss season. Macha, who had been Oakland's bench coach since 1999, was Melvin's first choice, but when A's manager Art Howe left for the Mets, Macha was offered the manager's position in Oakland. The Brewers instead gave the job to Yost.

The A's owned a 368-280 regular-season record in Macha's four years as manager and won two AL West division titles, but he was abruptly dismissed two days after the A's were swept by the Tigers in the 2006 American League Championship Series. Oakland general manager Billy Beane cited "a disconnect" on both sides.

Macha spent the past two seasons as a studio analyst for Red Sox television broadcasts.

The Pirates selected Pittsburgh native Macha in the sixth round of the 1972 First-Year Player Draft and he played parts of six Major League seasons, primarily as a third baseman. He then played four seasons in Japan before beginning his coaching career in Montreal in 1986.

Adam McCalvy is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.