Slowly but surely, managerial vacancies across the league are being filled. Over the past week-plus, the Chicago Cubs (David Ross), Los Angeles Angels (Joe Maddon), San Diego Padres (Jayce Tingler), and Philadelphia Phillies (Joe Girardi) have all named their new skippers. That flurry of activity has left just four teams without a manager: the Kansas City Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants, and New York Mets.

Two of those processes figure to stretch on into November -- the Royals are undergoing an ownership transfer and the Pirates fired their general manager on Monday -- but the Giants and the Mets are presumably nearing the end of their searches. The Mets, to wit, are moving onto a third round of interviews with candidates, per Joel Sherman and Mike Puma of the New York Post.

In this step -- perceived to be the final step of the process -- the Mets' candidates will interview with team owner Fred Wilpon. Minnesota Twins bench coach Derek Shelton, Washington Nationals first base coach Tim Bogar, ESPN analyst Eduardo Perez, and former Mets star Carlos Beltran are each expected to receive a third interview. It's unclear if others -- like supposed mystery candidate Pat Murphy, currently the Milwaukee Brewers bench coach -- will, too.

It's worth noting that of the four believed to be interviewing for a third time, only two have any kind of managerial experience. Bogar served as the Texas Rangers' interim skipper during the 2014 season, and Perez has managed in the World Baseball Classic and in winter ball. The rest would be first-time skippers, making this a noteworthy departure from the rule of thumb that suggests teams often pursue the inverse of their previous hire.

The Mets fired Mickey Callaway, a first-time skipper himself, in early October after two seasons on the job. He has since landed with the Angels as Maddon's pitching coach.