Chicago ? The Chicago Cubs didn’t waste much time letting Dusty Baker know they want him as their manager.

Cubs general manager Jim Hendry called Baker on Thursday, one day after the San Francisco Giants announced Baker wouldn’t be returning as their manager, and set up a meeting for Monday or Tuesday of next week.

“We had a nice conversation for 10-to-15 minutes. He’s getting ready to go out of town on a hunting trip,” Hendry said Thursday night from Arizona, where he’s attending the Cubs’ organizational meetings.

Hendry said there was no timetable.

“We want to get the right guy. We certainly expressed our interest to Dusty and he seems interested in us. Hopefully we’ll move forward at a good rate,” Hendry said.

Among those Hendry has already interviewed are Bob Melvin, Ken Macha, Buck Showalter and Fredi Gonzalez. Macha will manage the A’s and Showalter will guide the Rangers next season.

But it was no secret the Cubs were waiting to see what would happen once Baker’s contract with the Giants ran out, shortly after they lost Game 7 of the World Series to the Angels.

“I think my actions have spoken. We wanted to wait. He did a great job in San Francisco,” Hendry said. “He’s a winner, a proven winner and a very positive guy. He would be a quality manager.”

A three-time NL Manager of the Year, Baker would be Chicago’s sixth manager since 1992 and the fourth since Jim Riggleman was fired after the 1999 season.

Don Baylor was fired last July and interim manager Bruce Kimm was let go at the end of a dismal 67-95 season ” Chicago’s third 90-loss campaign in the last four years.

“No manager in baseball is more popular than Dusty,” Giants GM Brian Sabean said.

Baker’s task would include developing young players like Corey Patterson, Bobby Hill and Hee Seop Choi and being competitive in a division that includes the St. Louis Cardinals and NL Manager of the Year Tony La Russa, whom the Giants beat this year in the NLCS.