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All signs point to Bob McClure or Mark Wiley becoming the Royals’ next pitching coach before the end of the week.

Those two emerged as the top candidates from a group of four finalists that also included Mike Mason and Roger McDowell.

“All four of these guys have the qualities to be pitching coaches at the major-league level,” general manager Allard Baird said. “It’s a matter of who is the best fit for us at this time.”

Baird said neither McClure nor Wiley has been offered the job, which became vacant when the Royals fired Guy Hansen at the end of the season.

McClure, 53, spent the last seven years as a minor-league pitching coach in the Colorado organization, including the last four at Class AAA Colorado Springs. He spent 19 seasons as a big-league reliever after making his debut with the Royals in 1975.

Wiley, 57, spent last season as Florida’s pitching coach, but his contract wasn’t renewed after Jack McKeon resigned as the Marlins’ manager. Wiley also recently removed himself as a candidate to rejoin manager Mike Hargrove in Seattle.

Wiley was the Royals’ pitching coach in 1999 under then-manager Tony Muser. He served under Hargrove at Cleveland and Baltimore.

Mason is the Royals’ minor-league pitching instructor and served as the club’s interim pitching coach in 2004 after John Cumberland was fired.

McDowell, 44, works for the Los Angeles Dodgers as the pitching coach at Class AAA Las Vegas. He spent 12 seasons in the big leagues with five clubs.