By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The eight finalists for the Reds' general manager job have one thing in common: experience.

The Reds clearly are not trying to find the next whiz kid; most candidates have more than 20 years' experience in the major leagues, and all have worked for more than one organization. The man they seek to replace, Jim Bowden, was 31 when he was named Reds GM and was the youngest to occupy that position in the majors.

"Experience is an important factor," chief operating officer John Allen said. "We wanted a guy with a lot of experience finding baseball players. You hear so much about five-tool or four-tool players. We're looking more under the category of 'baseball player.' "

If that sounds like a big departure from the past, it is. Bowden was big on "tools." He'd take Ruben Mateo over Brady Clark or Felipe Lopez over Ryan Freel every time.

The finalists are:

• Mike Port, Boston vice president/baseball operations. He is perhaps the most experienced, having served as the then-California Angels' general manager from 1984-91. He also spent 2002 as Red Sox interim GM.

• Al Avila, Detroit vice president/assistant GM. Avila was the scouting director for Florida before going to Detroit in 2002. Strong homegrown talent got the Marlins to the postseason this year.

• Tim Purpura, Houston assistant GM. Purpura has headed the player development department since 1997. It has produced Roy Oswalt, Wade Miller, Richard Hidalgo and Lance Berkman.

• David Wilder, Milwaukee scout. Wilder was vice president/player personnel before getting re-assigned under new GM Doug Melvin after the 2002 season. Wilder was an assistant GM with the Chicago Cubs before going to Milwaukee.

• Wayne Krivsky, Minnesota assistant GM. Krivsky is experienced in contract negotiations as well as scouting.

• Omar Minaya, Montreal GM. Minaya kept the Expos in contention the last two years under difficult circumstances. He has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the Seattle GM job.

• Ned Colletti, San Francisco assistant GM. He has negotiated about 350 contracts in his seven-year tenure with the Giants and also worked with the Cubs.

• Dan O'Brien, Texas assistant GM. He has been with the Rangers for seven years. Before that, he spent 15 years with the Astros, rising to director of player development and scouting.

When Allen started to trim the list of applicants, he placed emphasis on people with player development and scouting experience.

"We also wanted guys who have been involved with winning organizations," Allen said. "For example, Wayne Krivsky with Minnesota, Al Avila with the Marlins, Ned Colletti with the Giants."

Allen is well along in the interview process and has more scheduled this week. The tricky part is working in Port and Colletti while their teams are in the postseason.

"We're trying to work with their schedules," Allen said.

Allen will not go to interview them; he wants all the candidates to come to Great American Ball Park.

Allen bristled at the rumors and reports that the Reds won't pay the going rate for a GM.

"That's absurd," he said. "I've got a list of what all 30 GMs make. We're going to pay the going rate."

Bowden made $650,000 in the final year of his contract.

Allen said the new GM will have leeway as far as hiring and firing the baseball operations staff and scouts.

"He'll have quite a bit (of authority)," Allen said. "We do have some people we're committed to. But we have a lot of flexibility."