State of the Giants: Kim Ng For GM

The Giants are interviewing a seemingly long list of candidates for their vacant GM post(who knows what the official title will be, but to make it easy, we'll call the position the GM).  One of those candidates is not like the others.  Kim Ng has long been the odds on favorite to become the first woman GM and over the years has built an impressive resume.  Unfortunately, her many interviews for various open GM slots have started to look suspiciously like tokenism, a box MLB can check off to prove it is "committed" to diversity.  Yet the actual, you know, jobs, always seem to end up going to youngish white guys who all seem to have gone to the same school or worked under some GM who won a World Series and is labelled "analytically minded".  So, let's go back and remind ourselves of who Kim Ng is and why she always seems to have some buzz in GM searches.

Kim first started hitting radar screens when she emerged as the assistant GM of the Dodgers under Dan Evans, who I still think is one of the most underrated GM's of all time.  Evans likely knew her from when they both worked for the White Sox before their Dodgers gigs.  For his part, Evans was one of the little known pioneers of baseball analytics and the use of technology for baseball evaluation.  He is currently a member of Baseball Prospectus Advisory Board and serves on the Board of Directors of the SABR Rocky Mountain Chapter.  But Evans was also very into traditional scouting.  You may recall he hired the legendary Logan White as Scouting Director for the Dodgers.  In my mind, Evans laid the foundation for the current sustained success the Dodgers have enjoyed.

OK, back to Kim Ng.  Her interest in baseball started with stickball games in Queens NY and softball in HS and college.  She started her formal baseball career as an intern with the White Sox and was hired full-time in 1991.  She started out a special projects analyst and was promoted to Assistant Director of Baseball Operations under GM Ron Schueler.  She became the youngest person and first woman to present a salary arbitration case which she won.

In 1997, she moved the the AL offices and was Director of Waivers and Records approving all MLB transactions.  In 1998, she went to work for Brian Cashman as his Assistant GM at age 29.  She is one of 3 women to ever hold the Assistant GM position in MLB.  In 2001, she was hired by the Dodgers as Vice President and Assistant GM under Dan Evans.  The next 4 years working with Evans and Logan White produced some of the most productive drafts in the history of baseball. It was reportedly her idea to convert Kenley Jansen from catching to pitching.  That's maybe not the hardest transition to envision, but it does show she was involved in player development at the micro level and all the way down to the lower levels of the farm system.

Kim interviewed for the Dodgers GM position when Evans left, but lost out to Ned Coletti, which has to be one of the great travesties in the history of baseball hirings.  Colletti kept her on as Assistant GM. Since 2011, she has served as Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations for Major League Baseball under Joe Torre. Over the years, she has interviewed for GM jobs with the Mariners, Padres and Angels.

Look, I don't know who the best person for the Giants GM job is.  Heck, I thought Bobby Evans' processes were OK, which shows how much I know.  I believe Kim Ng is as qualified as anyone and more than most.  She has a wide range of experiences and connections in the sport.  She appears to have an understanding of both "analytics" and scouting.  She is reputed to be whip-smart and is obviously comfortable working and thriving in an environment dominated by men, which  almost automatically puts her in an exceptional category.  That is why I am rooting for Kim Ng to be the next Giants GM, which is not the same as saying she is the best person for the job, because I do not know that about her or anyone else who is applying.