Several interesting names have been floated by the Mets as potential saviors. Some are absurd: Former Diamondbacks GM Joe Garagiola Jr. has no business running a big-market franchise. Neither does White Sox assistant GM Rick Hahn. But if the Mets are serious about, say, Sandy Alderson, then their fans have reason to believe change is coming.

The former A’s general manager – pre-Billy Beane – is exactly the man the Mets need. Alderson guided the A’s to four division titles, three pennants and a world championship in 1989, which means he has a winning pedigree.

– Bob Klapisch, Bergen Record.

Look: If you’re seeking sweeping, declarative statements about who should or shouldn’t be the Mets’ next GM, you might want to avoid TedQuarters for the next couple of weeks. I mean, click over to check out stuff about Taco Bell and astrophysics and whatever else might come up, but I do not plan on endorsing any particular man or woman as definitively the right person for the job. Not my style.

Klapisch has been writing about baseball a lot longer than I have, and maybe knows something about Rick Hahn that I don’t. But everything I’ve read suggests that Hahn has plenty business helming a big-market franchise. In fact, Bill Madden, who has been writing about baseball a lot longer than Klapisch, suggested Hahn would be a great fit for the Mets today.

Of course, I’m an arrogant bastard who doesn’t put a whole lot of stock in other people’s opinions, so I’m not willing to trust that either Klapisch or Madden knows what’s best for the Mets.

What I know for certain is that the next couple weeks will feature a whole lot of writers pointing squarely at this guy, this guy or that guy, and I will do my best to assess the arguments based on the evidence presented and resist the temptation to bury my head in the sand until it’s all over then start lambasting the new GM for whatever he or she does wrong.

So as for Alderson: Klapisch pleads his case because he engineered the successful A’s teams in the late 80s and early 90s, went to an Ivy League college and is a Marine-trained tough guy. His Wikipedia page says he mentored Billy Beane. Madden dismisses Alderson because he’s over 60 and “firmly ensconced” in his current role with Major League Baseball.

As for Hahn: Madden includes him in his list of candidates, citing people “throughout the game” who believe Hahn to be “bright, organized and a workaholic.” Madden points out that the areas of his expertise — contracts, etc. — might overlap a bit with John Ricco’s, but that the White Sox have taken to sending Hahn out on scouting trips as well.

Though Alderson was the CEO of the Padres from 2005-2009 and I have no idea exactly what that role entailed, it sounds like Hahn has been a lot closer to baseball operations a lot more recently, and comes from the business background now en vogue for general managers.

So of these two, Hahn seems like the more reasonable choice to me, but then, still, I really have no clue. In the coming weeks we’re going to try to get in touch with some people with better, closer perspectives on these and all the other most-discussed candidates for episodes of The Baseball Show to get a little more informed.

But I don’t expect to come away from those shows any more confident that I know the right choice for the Mets’ next GM. Truth is, we won’t know if the right choice has been made until a year or two after the choice has been made.