Early this month, The New Republic named a few “renaissance men” who could be the next managing editor of the Wall Street Journal. Three of the four possible replacements – Washington bureau chief John Bussey, Money and Investing editor Nick Deogun, and assistant managing editor Alan Murray – are Journal insiders, while Andrew Ross Sorkin works uptown as a mergers and acquisitions reporter at the New York Times.

However, Portfolio’s Jeff Bercovici quotes a Journal source as saying, “The senior people would all be surprised if it’s an insider.”

Bercovici adds two more names to the speculative list of possible Marcus Brauchli replacements: Barron’s editor Edwin Finn, and London Daily Telegraph editor-in-chief Will Lewis.

Why two outsiders? “It would seem that any internal person would feel weird being the designated lackey,” an unnamed editor is quoted as saying.