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SEATTLE - Mariners president Chuck Armstrong said his team is vetting a wide range of general manager candidates, pointedly leaving open the possibility of Seattle hiring the first female general manager in major league history.

Highly regarded Los Angeles Dodgers assistant GM Kim Ng is considered an option.

The 39-year-old Ng has had her job for seven seasons and was a top adviser to New York Yankees' GM Brian Cashman before that. She was believed to be the final candidate beaten out by Ned Colletti when Los Angeles selected a new GM in 2005, and the Dodgers say she is the first woman to ever interview for a GM job.

She may be getting a second interview soon.

"It's time for some fresh thinking," Armstrong said at the end of his 23rd season with the team -- what he called his worst and most "miserable" one.

"We're color blind, gender blind," he went on to say. "We just want the best person that we think would be the best person for the Mariners as we move forward," Armstrong said.

He and team CEO Howard Lincoln said the replacement for Bill Bavasi, fired June 16, and temporary in-house fill-in Lee Pelekoudas will be an outsider with new ideas to resurrect the franchise.

This week Seattle became the first major league team with a $100 million player payroll to lose 100 games. The Mariners began the season expecting to win the AL West but entered Friday night's game against Oakland at 58-101, their most losses since 1983. They must win one of their final three games to avoid matching their worst season of 104 losses in 1978.

"Inside, we have our own thoughts. But it's good, I think, to go outside and get some fresh views," Armstrong said. "We are looking for a new, fresh perspective and some good leadership."

The Seattle executives, partners since 1992 in running the team for Japanese billionaire Hiroshi Yamauchi, said they will intensify their GM search next week by asking other teams for permission to interview candidates. They hope to name him -- or her -- by the end of October.

Armstrong said he spoke with commissioner Bud Selig on Friday to inform him of their timeline for hiring the eighth full-time general manager in the team's 32-year history, and Selig supported it. Selig reminded Armstrong not to make the announcement during next month's World Series so the Mariners don't take attention away from the game's jewel event.

"It will be the most important decision we make," this winter, Lincoln said, adding the new GM will have full authority to reshape the franchise of he or she sees fit. "It's an extremely important decision. We've got to get it right."