FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Cleveland bench coach Grady Little was optimistic he'd become manager of the Boston Red Sox as he prepared for a formal interview with team officials.

At least four candidates are expected to be interviewed, a process beginning Friday and likely to carry over to Saturday, team owner John Henry said Thursday.

Little wasn't in Kissimmee for the Indians game Thursday against Atlanta even though he was listed on the team's traveling squad.

"He feels good about his chances," Cleveland manager Charlie Manuel said. "I don't want to lose him but, at the same time, it's great for Grady."

With opening day coming up on April 1, the Red Sox want to hire a manager as soon as possible, Henry said, but a decision before Sunday "would be pushing it."

Since taking over the team Feb. 27, Henry and president Larry Lucchino have been busy considering staff changes. The next day general manager Dan Duquette was fired and replaced on an interim basis by Mike Port.

Last Tuesday, manager Joe Kerrigan was fired and third-base coach Mike Cubbage became interim manager.

Henry said he hoped several candidates could be interviewed in the same day.

Two minority candidates probably will be considered, Henry said, with former Montreal manager Felipe Alou and current Houston bench coach Tony Pena prominently mentioned. New York Yankees coach Willie Randolph apparently won't be part of that group since he doesn't have managing experience in the majors or minors, a prerequisite the Red Sox have set.

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig issued an order for teams to consider minority candidates for managers' positions, but Henry said, "There are some excellent managerial choices that are minorities, irrespective of the commissioner's mandate.

"So I fully expect and hope we will be able to have a couple of minority candidates in mind."

Other possible candidates are Cubbage and Oakland bench coach Ken Macha. The names of former major league managers Jim Fregosi and Buck Showalter also have been mentioned.

Henry said he, Lucchino and Port will conduct the interviews as a group at an undisclosed Florida location.

"We seem to be quite like-minded about things that are important to us in baseball matters, so I do not believe we'll have a hard time making a decision," Henry said.

He refused to identify any candidates.

Cubbage, who had a .602 winning percentage as a manager in six minor league seasons, said he hopes he'll get an interview.

"I really haven't been told that, but it would be nice," he said after Thursday's 1-1 tie with Baltimore that was halted by rain after seven innings.

Port told him before the team left on its 130-mile bus trip from Fort Myers that he would receive consideration, Cubbage said.

Little, bench coach in Boston from 1997 to 1999 and in Cleveland the past two seasons, has received strong recommendations from Indians general manager Mark Shapiro and Manuel.

Manuel confirmed that Little had been contacted by the Red Sox and would be interviewed by Friday.

Little, 52, spent 16 seasons as a minor league coach, ending in 1995. Ten of them were in the Atlanta organization. He was bullpen coach in San Diego in 1996 while Lucchino was president of the Padres.

The past two seasons, Little filled in as manager in Cleveland when Manuel had health problems. Several Red Sox players have endorsed Little and Macha, who coached in Boston's minor-league system from 1995 through 1998.

Macha was with the Athletics on Thursday for their game against Arizona in Tucson.

"I don't know anything about it," he said of being a candidate.

Asked about his current job with Oakland, Macha said, "we've had a pretty good run the last three years here and I'm looking forward to a fourth one."

Pena, a former catcher with the Red Sox, managed Houston's Triple-A team in New Orleans the past three seasons.

After the Astros' game against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Kissimmee on Thursday, he said he hadn't been contacted by the Red Sox. Houston general manager Gerry Hunsicker said it would be inappropriate to comment on another team's managerial search.