Don Wakamatsu, who spent his adult life in professional baseball, has been hired as the next manager of the Seattle Mariners.

Wakamatsu, 45, began as one of seven candidates last week, then made general manager Jack Zduriencik's short list.

On Tuesday, however, Wakamatsu - an Oakland bench coach last season - was told he had the job.

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General manager Jack Zduriencik, whose background in scouting helped get him his job, put another scout in place with the Seattle Mariners.

Mike Cadahia 54, comes aboard as an amateur scouting specialist, and will leap immediately into evaluating players who might be selected in June - when teh Mariners have the second pick in the naion.

For the last six years, Cadahia scouted for the Florida Marlins, and back in 1999 worked in the Seattle front office as the scouting director for Latin America.

Cadahia left Seattle shoftly after new-GM Pat Gillick's arrival to work for the Blue Jays.

What happens when you try to operate a managerial search under a cone of media silence - as Mariners GM Bill Bavasi did - is rumors pop up in the media.

So what happens if, like new GM Jack Zduriencik, you're open through the process?

KING-5 aired a story saying Oakland bench coach Don Wakamatsu was not only the frontrunner, but that his hiring was only awaiting the approval of Japanese ownership.

It's hard to say who seemed more surprised this morning - the Mariners or Wakamatsu.

The team said nothing had changed since late Monday, when Zduriencik said he hadn't told anyone - including the new manager - who the new manager was, yet.

And Wakamatsu was home in Texas, waiting on pins and needles for some word out of Seattle.

So what's the truth?

Bottom line: Of the seven candidates, Wakamatsu is high on Zduriencik's final list and could be the next manager.

But he's not, yet.

And at least two other candidates are high on that list, too.