Raul Ibanez has removed his name from consideration to become Joe Maddon's successor as the Tampa Bay Rays fifth manager in history.
ESPN reports that Ibanez, 41, will no longer be in the running for the skipper position after withdrawing himself. With the news, Ken Cash and Don Wakamatsu are now the lone finalists for the job.
According to the report, Ibanez sited family reasons as the explanation as to why he no longer wanted to be considered for the job.
Cash will turn 37 on Saturday and was interviewed on Wednesday while Wakamatsu is 51 and was interviewed on Tuesday.
Cash, a Tampa native, had an eight-year MLB career as a catcher and also served as a scout for the Blue Jays and the Cleveland Indians bullpen coach the last two seasons.
Wakamatsu managed on the minor league level and was the Seattle Mariners skipper from 2009-August 2010. He also served as bench coach for the Texas Rangers, Oakland Athetics and Blue Jays and the American League champion Kansas City Royals.
The announcement as to who will be the next skipper is expected to happen on Friday.
The vacancy is there because Maddon opted to leave the Rays for the Chicago Cubs this offseason, marking the first time since 2006 that Tampa Bay is filling a void at manager. Maddon also coached the Los Angeles Angels in his career and is 781-729 overall.
Ibanez played 90 games between the Royals and Angels last season and hit .167 five homers and 26 RBI.
In 2,161 games over 19 years in the MLB, Ibanez is a .272 hitter with 305 homers and 1,207 RBI.
The Rays are coming off of a season where they finished an underwhelming 77-85 and in fourth place in the American League East.
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