SEATTLE -- The Mariners have scheduled interviews for next week with four finalists to succeed manager Lou Piniella, who quit last month to become manager of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

"We'll narrow it down, probably after Tuesday,'' general manager Pat Gillick said Friday. "We'll interview two candidates on Monday and two on Tuesday and then we'll narrow it down from there.''

Jim Riggleman and Sam Perlozzo are scheduled to be interviewed on Monday, and Gillick said he will sit down with Bob Melvin and Buddy Bell the following day.

"There's a possibility that somebody could become available, but right now we still have four candidates,'' said Gillick, who already has eliminated former Giants manager Dusty Baker.

Gillick's goal is to have a new manager in place in within a week.

Riggleman, who turns 50 next week, and Bell, 51, are the only two finalists with major league managerial experience.

Riggleman has managed the Chicago Cubs and the San Diego Padres, getting the Cubs into the playoffs in 1998. He has a major league record of 486-598.

Bell, the second generation of a three-generation major league family, has managed the Colorado Rockies and Detroit Tigers, compiling a 345-462 record. He was a minor league instructor with the Cleveland Indians last season.

Melvin, 41, was the bench coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks the past two seasons and was a finalist for Milwaukee's manager job.

Perlozzo, 51, came to Seattle from Cincinnati with Piniella's and was the Mariners' third-base coach from 1993-95. He has been the Baltimore Orioles' bench coach the past two seasons.