SAN FRANCISCO - Toronto Blue Jays general manager Gord Ash considered hiring Paul Molitor to replace Cito Gaston after the 1997 season.

Molitor decided he would play one more year, for the Minnesota Twins in 1998, the 21st and final season of his Hall of Fame career.

Jays president Paul Godfrey wanted Molitor to replace Jim Fregosi as the Toronto manager in 2000, but Molitor declined to be interviewed after than a week’s deliberation.

In 2012, you won’t hear Molitor’s name bandied about as the search for a replacement for John Farrell. So said Molitor Thursday afternoon.

What if the Jays stepped into their history for a manager, the way the St. Louis Cardinals hired Mike Matheny and the Chicago White Sox brought in Robin Ventura?

Both had success this year — their rookie seasons — despite not having ever managed a game.

If the Jays choose that route, it certainly won’t be former slugging first baseman Carlos Delgado. “Manage? That’s funny,” said Delgado, who hit 473 career homers. “I can’t even manage my house.”

Leading candidates, since Farrell went to the “epi-centre of the baseball universe,” are Jim Tracy, former manager of the Rockies, Dodgers and Pirates; Tim Wallach, Dodgers third base coach; Indians coach Sandy Alomar; Orioles third base coach DeMarlo Hale; Don Wakamatsu, Jays bench coach; and Manny Acta, former Indians and Nationals manager.