I find that odd; with all the behind-the-scenes info about Star Trek out there I don't think that actors name has ever been revealed.
I wasn't aware there were other choices besides Marc Alaimo. I do know that Stephen Macht, who eventually appeared on DS9 as a Bajoran officer, was one of the candidates for the role of Picard.
This is the first I've heard of the recasting, very interesting! When the blurays come out, I hope they do something similar as what they did with the Picard alternative, and even some of the test footage, since he did complete a day of filming according to memory-alpha.