Houston Astros Owner Drayton McLane, GM Ed Wade, and others on a selection committee interviewed the last of 10 managerial candidates Monday afternoon.

One name from the lineup—full of prospects familiar and as mixed bag as they come—caught my attention.

Was anyone surprised by the list Jose de Jesus Ortiz unveiled on chron.com last week?

Former Milwaukee Brewers manager Ned Yost, San Diego Padres hitting coach Randy Ready, former Arizona Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin, former Washington Nationals manager Manny Acta, former Astros manager Phil Garner, interim Astros manager Dave Clark, Astros third base coach Al Pedrique, current Philadelphia Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin, and Boston Red Sox coaches Brad Mills and Tim Bogar will all compete to become the newest harbinger of Houston’s disastrous pro baseball squad.

With no grand slam managers (a Joe Torre or Terry Francona) to recruit in a critical offseason, McLane and Wade have picked the best available crop.

However, to hire any of these defective dugout captains is to settle, even if each can bring something tangible and positive to an organization in sore need of the right leadership.

They were previously canned for a reason, and Astros fans should remember that before getting excited about any of them.

Every candidate, with the exception of Clark, Pedrique, and Ready, boasts substantive experience.

Garner, the standout applicant of the bunch, might have the upper hand in knowledge of clubhouse operations.

Wait—isn’t this the guy McLane sent packing two years ago along with Tim Purpura?

McLane could have avoided all of this contention, of course, by keeping Gerry Hunsicker around. Few believe that Hunsicker resigned on his own terms. I certainly don’t.

I do not want to paraphrase or copy what Richard Justice wrote in the Houston Chronicle the day after the club released its candidates list, so I will be brief.

The Astros brass should tell Garner, “thanks, but no thanks.”

If any committee member—especially Baseball Operations President Tal Smith—has to think it over longer than five seconds, something might be amiss upstairs.

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, why would McLane want to revisit one of his biggest failures?

Garner’s firing was undeserved, and his departure solved none of the Astros’ pressing problems.

He was too soft on some players, and he did not respond to loss after loss with the snarl expected of a sharp manager.

Still, he managed the Astros to a National League Championship Series and a World Series. No other Houston skipper has done that.

Garner's win-loss record plummeted because Jeff Bagwell retired, Craig Biggo’s abilities continued a steady decline, Roger Clemens and Andy Pettite bolted—er, returned—to New York and Brandon Backe lost his stuff after a series of injuries.

The talent in the clubhouse stunk a lot more than his managing ever did.

Garner worked wonderfully with veterans, and that’s why giving him another shot would prove a fatal mistake.

McLane could only justify selecting Garner if he thinks the team still has enough juice for another playoff run.

I know I’m the millionth person to tell you this, Drayton, but this team is closer to the retirement home than a second championship series appearance.

I would bet the house on an area rec league squad getting there before the Astros.

Wade needs to reload the team’s destitute farm system, but he cannot do that until McLane gives him the "all clear" to dump the number of quality veterans it will take to land enough prospects to make a difference.

If the youth movement begins now, with Hunter Pence, Michael Bourn, Tommy Manzella, Jason Castro, and Bud Norris serving as centerpieces, the Astros can be great again in a few years.

More of the same emphasis on veteran gap-fillers will produce more of the same.

Mediocrity does not sell tickets.

Hunsicker oversaw a minor league operation that produced Lance Berkman, Bobby Abreu, and Brad Lidge, among others.

The next manager must work well with infant pro players, because the only path to respectability necessitates the infestation of early-20s contributors.

The same inadequacies that made Garner a convenient scapegoat in August 2007 will surface again, perhaps before you can re-read this sentence.

The former manager’s inclusion in the interview process could be for show. Maybe McLane just wanted Houstonians to talk about his team again, even if for a few minutes.

For his and the Astros sakes, I hope so.