In the wake of yesterday’s firing of Seattle Mariners’ manager Don Wakamatsu, names are starting to pop up as to who may be the next manager in Seattle.

Asked if he will start doing due diligence and perhaps interviewing candidates before the end of the season, GM Jack Zduriencik said, “I think that will probably happen,” according to Larry Stone of the Seattle Times.

“We want to give Daren a chance to get his feet wet and manage this club until the end of the year. In the same sense, I think we’ll probably hear from a lot of people. There could be a lot of openings this year at the major-league level. There will be candidates out there who want to talk sooner rather than later.”

One top candidate could be former Texas Rangers and New York Mets skipper Bobby Valentine. He managed the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan, so he could be a cultural fit for the Japanese-owned (Nintendo of America) Mariners.

Big name candidates that could be available include Tony La Russa (Cardinals), Joe Torre (Dodgers) and Dusty Baker (Reds). Others’ whose contracts aren’t up, but may be fired include John Russell (Pirates), Jerry Manuel (Mets) and Ken Macha (Brewers). Free-agent managers include Willie Randolph, Eric Wedge, Clint Hurdle, John Gibbons, Bob Brenly and Lloyd McClendon.

As far as the possibility of interim manager Daren Brown being named full-time manager, “At the end of the year, we will open this job up and seek the best candidate possible,” Zduriencik said. “In baseball and any sport or walk of life, there’s always an evaluation process going on. Daren will be evaluated as we move forward.”