Joe Torre has been in definitive discussions with Commissioner Bud Selig to join Major League Baseball as executive vice president of baseball operations, a source confirmed on Saturday.

The report that the former manager of the Yankees and Dodgers was interested in the position first emerged on Saturday in the New York Daily News.

Torre would take the job most recently filled on a full-time basis by Jimmie Lee Solomon, who was re-assigned within the MLB hierarchy this past summer. Since then, John McHale has been in that position on an interim basis with Hall of Famer Frank Robinson overseeing the umpires, security and on-field baseball operations.

The source said the talks between the 70-year-old Torre and Selig are serious and that the likelihood of it happening was high, although there was no timetable for an announcement. MLB’s owners and general managers meet for the first time this year in the Phoenix area this coming Wednesday and Thursday.

Torre has no executive experience. He played 18 seasons in the Major Leagues and was a .297 lifetime hitter as a catcher, first baseman and third baseman. A nine-time NL All-Star, Torre led that league in hitting with a .363 average when he played for the Cardinals in 1971. He subsequently spent 29 years as a manager of five teams and was named AL Manager of the Year when he led the Yankees to World Series victories in 1996 and ’98.