Cal Ripken spoke with Orioles owner Peter Angelos yesterday and removed himself from the running for the team's general manager position, citing time constraints from other projects.

Ripken was one of at least nine candidates the Orioles were considering to replace vice president for baseball operations Syd Thrift, who has held the club's de facto general manager position for the past three years.

"As exciting as this opportunity is," Ripken said through a spokesman, "I am heavily involved in my youth initiatives, the [minor-league baseball] project in Aberdeen, and the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation.

"I discovered during the process that for me, the timing just wasn't right."

The announcement narrowed the Orioles' search process on the same day the New York Mets officially denied them permission to speak with their senior assistant general manager, Jim Duquette.

The news also strengthened Mike Flanagan's position as the favorite to get the job.

Flanagan went through a second day of interviews with the Boston Red Sox for their general manager position yesterday after spending more than 10 hours with Red Sox president Larry Lucchino and other team officials on Monday.

Lucchino told the Associated Press that he had initial reservations about Flanagan's experience but said the former Orioles pitcher "is off the charts with respect to other standards."

Angelos continued interviewing other candidates to replace Thrift, meeting with former Montreal Expos GM Jim Beattie. Having already interviewed Detroit Tigers assistant GM Al Avila on Monday, Angelos will interview Arizona Diamondbacks assistant GM Sandy Johnson today and former Chicago White Sox GM Ron Schueler on Friday.

Other candidates on the Orioles' list include Oakland Athletics assistant GM Paul DePodesta and former Anaheim Angels GM Bill Bavasi.

Ripken, who retired as a player last year, surprised many close to the process when he made it known publicly that he would be interested in Thrift's job and then expressed that interest to Angelos.

Before Game 4 of the World Series, Ripken said people had long been asking about his future plans and he always gave the same response: He didn't want to be a manager or a coach because those jobs posed the same time constraints as a player. But if he had the chance to shape an entire organization, then he would be interested.

Ripken was referring to managers and coaches having the same travel schedules as players, but the inference that a general manager's position would be less demanding didn't sit well with Orioles officials inside the warehouse.

Angelos and Ripken spoke last week before Ripken left for Texas to attend the wedding of Rangers shortstop Alex Rodriguez.

Angelos, who could not be reached for comment last night, was said to be considering a major role for Ripken within the baseball operations department, perhaps one similar to George Brett's position with the Kansas City Royals.

Brett is the Royals vice president of baseball operations, but Kansas City also has Allard Baird as its senior vice president and general manager. Orioles officials believe Ripken wanted more authority.

After returning from the wedding, Ripken pulled out of the running. "Cal made the decision and called Mr. Angelos to inform him late in the afternoon," said John Maroon, a spokesman for Ripken Baseball.

Ripken has left open the possibility he'd be interested in pursuing a GM job down the road, and the Orioles are still believed to be his first choice.

The Orioles joined the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Pittsburgh Pirates as teams that have been rebuffed by the Mets in their attempts to speak with Duquette in the past two seasons. Duquette was given more money the last time he negotiated a contract with the Mets with the understanding they could deny teams permission to speak with him about other jobs.

Duquette is a Massachusetts native, and the Mets made an exception and granted him permission to speak with the Red Sox about their GM job.

Schueler also has interviewed with the Red Sox for that job, and they intend to have him back for a second interview next week. After resigning as the White Sox general manager, he spent two years as a senior vice president in that organization before leaving three weeks ago to pursue other opportunities.