Welcome to the 2010 New York Mets General Manageratorial Debate. Today, I, Jeff Wilpon, will moderate a panel of the three leading candidates for the Mets GM job, in attempt to vet their qualifications and create a fan-favorite candidate, who I will then quickly spurn. So let's start out by having the candidates briefly discuss their pertinent past experience. Mr. Hahn, we'll start with you.  

Well, let me start out by thanking you Mr. Wilpon for this opportunity. Just a bit about myself: I grew up in Chicago, went to University of Michigan, then Harvard Law and the Kellog School of Management at Northwestern. I started out at a sports agency, Steinberg, Moorad & Dunn. And for the past 10 years, I've been an Assistant GM for the White Sox, mainly negotiating contracts and advising GM Kenny Williams on moves.

Hello. My name is Sandy Alderson. I have worked previously for the Oakland Athletics from 1981 to 1998. From '83 to '97, I was General Manager and we had some good years during that run. I then worked in the commissioner's office, later as CEO of the Padres. These days, I'm back with MLB, overseeing baseball operations in the Dominican Republic. 

MY NAME IS JIMMY MCMILLAN AKA PAPA SMURF, AKA BIG MACK, AKA SANTA CLAUS AND I REPRESENT THE TICKET PRICES ARE 2 DAMN HIGH MOVEMENT. I am a veteran of the Vietnam War and a former postal worker. I have previously campaigned to become a U.S. Senator, mayor of New York City and manager of the Brooklyn Cyclones. I am here to represent people that can't even afford to raise their children, pay their rent or buy tickets.

Alright...Let's get right into it, then. Could each candidate briefly describe their plan to make the New York Mets a championship-caliber ballclub. Again, to you, Mr. Hahn.

If chosen as General Manager, I would create a long-term vision for success. I believe in creating certain systems and trusting those systems as a sort of template for how to create a winning team, not just next year, but several years in the future. And I think that all starts with putting the right people in place to make decisions and investing equally in the status quo and the future.

I like to win. And you win by having the best players. In my experience, it's all about pairing the willingness to get the best players with the baseball people who can reliably identify those players time and again.

THE TICKET PRICES ARE 2 DAMN HIGH movement believes that the ticket prices are too damn high. If elected as king of the Mets, I would lower ticket prices. Did you hear that?? You gotta listen like I do. A child's stomach in the mezzanine just growled. He couldn't afford that $7.00 chocolate shake at the Shake Shack. Why? You said it...the ticket prices ARE 2 DAMN HIGH

OK...well I'm sure our fans are eager to hear your answers to this one. Where do you fall in the sabermetrics vs. scouting debate?

What I think you'll find in most Major League front offices these days is that statistics and scouting are used mostly in harmony. I know, in my time with the White Sox, we utilized both sabermetric and scouting tools to help create more holistic player evaluations. I don't view it as an either-or question.

Well, I'm very proud of the work we did in Oakland innovating the use statistical evaluation in baseball, so obviously I have a bias there. Still, I've found that the lifeblood of any successful organization are its scouts, so far be it for me to discount their importance. I think you have to look at both and then make a judgement call and that all goes back to surrounding yourself with the right people. 

As a KARATE EXPERT, I do not utilize sabers, scepters, or any other manner of swords.

Yes or no: would you, as General Manager, be comfortable with Omar Minaya returning to the Mets in a reduced role?

No, probably not.

Yes.

The Ticket Prices are 2 Damn High Movement believes that if you want to hire a shoe, I'll work with you.

To finish out, can each candidate promise the fans one concrete change.

I will rebuild the farm system.

I believe pitching wins. I'd build a rotation as good as any in the National League.

The Ticket Prices are 2 Damn High movement promises, if elected, to bulldoze Arthur Ashe Stadium and the Unisphere to build a tower of cheap seats from which folks can view the game via observation deck. Once the ticket prices are no longer too damn high, the Mets' play will no longer make this man want to cry.