According to the alt-weekly Boston Phoenix, David Shribman, the executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, is likely a top candidate to become the next editor of the Boston Globe.

Shribman declined to comment on the report -- which was picked up by media-blogger Jim Romenesko -- except to say that he discouraged such speculation.

The vacancy at the Globe, which is owned by the New York Times, is being created by the departure of editor Martin Baron, who is headed for the Washington Post. Shribman won a Pulitzer for the Globe back in 1995, when he was its Washington D.C. bureau chief. The Phoenix's Peter Kadzis quotes an unnamed Globe staffer saying "The Times loves quality, and Shribman with his Dartmouth degree is the embodiment of that." Kadzis ranks Shribman as "the leader of the pack among the Globe outsiders," though he predicts the next editor will be the Globe's managing editor, Caleb Solomon.