Kim Ng Deserved More From the Marlins

Kim Ng broke ground as both the majors’ first female general manager, and its first of East Asian descent, the culmination of a three-decade rise through the front offices of the White Sox, Yankees, Dodgers, and Major League Baseball. But after a three-season run during which she guided the Marlins to just their fourth postseason appearance ever, not to mention their first full-season finish above .500 since 2009, she and the team have parted ways. Reportedly, while the Marlins exercised their end of a mutual option for 2024, she declined her end, believing she had earned a stronger commitment from ownership.

After a decade and a half of interviews that put her on the cusp of history, Ng became the first female GM of a men’s team in any major league North American professional sport when the Marlins hired her in November 2020. She took over on the heels of the pandemic-shortened season, during which the Marlins went 31-29 and made the expanded playoffs, their first postseason appearance of any kind since 2003. The Marlins backslid to 67-95 in 2021 and 69-93 last year amid considerable organizational upheaval, but this year’s team broke through, winning 84 games (albeit with a -57 run differential) and drawing 1.16 million fans, the NL’s lowest total but the team’s highest since 2017, when it was still under the ownership of Jeffrey Loria. The Marlins finished third in the NL East, and through a tiebreaker claimed the fifth playoff seed. They dropped two games to the Phillies and were eliminated on October 4.

Generally such breakthroughs elicit extension offers that provide security instead of placing executives in lame-duck positions. Ng did receive an offer, according to ESPN’s Buster Olney, but it came with a catch. Owner Bruce Sherman is seeking to bring in a president of baseball operations, a senior executive to whom Ng would have reported. Understandably, moving down the pecking order wasn’t what Ng had in mind, as she had hopes of expanding and reshaping the front office under her own vision, cutting ties with holdovers in the scouting and player development department “with whom she did not reach a good working relationship,” according to the New York Post’s Joel Sherman.

Via The Athletic’s Tyler Kepner, Ng issued a statement:

“Last week, Bruce (Sherman) and I discussed his plan to reshape the Baseball Operations department. In our discussions, it became apparent that we were not completely aligned on what that should look like and I felt it best to step away.

“I wish to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to the Marlins family and its fans for my time in South Florida. This year was a great step forward for the organization, and I will miss working with Skip [manager Skip Schumaker] and his coaches as well as all of the dedicated staff in baseball operations and throughout the front office. They are a very talented group and I wish them great success in the future.”

All of this feels very par for the course for the Marlins, who haven’t exactly cultivated a winning tradition because, you know, those things cost money. Since Sherman purchased the Marlins from Loria for $1.2 billion in October 2017, the team’s payroll has consistently ranked among the majors’ bottom 10, and often among the bottom five, just as it generally was with Loria:

When Sherman purchased the team, he brought Derek Jeter on board as CEO with a $5 million salary and a 4% ownership interest. With Hill serving as president of baseball operations under Jeter, the Marlins nearly halved their payroll from 2017 to ’21 by trading away the likes of Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna, Christian Yelich, Dee Strange-Gordon, and J.T. Realmuto, bringing in prospects such as Sandy Alcantara and Zac Gallen, Lewis Brinson, Sixto Sánchez, and more (spoiler alert: they didn’t all pan out). When Jeter found Sherman unwilling to increase spending significantly so as to woo free agents, he stepped down and divested his ownership share in February 2022, saying, “[T]he vision for the future of the franchise is different than the one I signed up to lead.” His departure was the bellwether of further change. In June 2022, vice president of player development Gary Denbo, a Jeter hire who alienated numerous staffers, was fired. In September, manager Don Mattingly, who had piloted the team since 2016, resigned.

Ng had ties to Mattingly from her time as assistant GM with the Dodgers from 2002–11, and to Jeter and Denbo from her time as assistant GM with the Yankees from 1998–2001. All of them predated her arrival in Miami. The hiring of Schumaker provided her with an opportunity to put a fresh stamp on the organization, and to bring in somebody from outside her sphere. The early returns on Schumaker have been positive, and both he and Ng have been credited with changing the culture, bringing a new attitude and credibility to a franchise desperately in need both.

Ng inherited a team well-stocked with young pitching; in 2020, 53 of its 60 starts were taken by pitchers in their age-25 seasons or younger, with two of those pitchers (Sánchez and Trevor Rogers) among the four Marlins who appeared on our 2021 Top 100 Prospects list, along with shortstop Jazz Chisholm Jr. (acquired from the Diamondbacks in a 2019 deadline trade for Gallen) and outfielder JJ Bleday, the fourth pick of the 2019 draft. Though the names have changed as pitchers have developed and/or gotten injured, Ng has maintained that enviable stockpile. Two-thirds of the team’s starts this year went to pitchers in their age-25 seasons and younger, including 20-year-old phenom Eury Pérez, a 2019 international signee who placed third in this year’s Top 100. Alcantara, the reigning NL Cy Young winner, accounted for more than half the remaining starts, and even as he regressed in his age-27 season before missing the final month and needing Tommy John surgery, the unit thrived, finishing in the majors’ top 10 in ERA, FIP, and WAR. Even amid their 90-plus losses, the rotation ranked among the majors’ top 12 in all three categories in 2022, with the first two in the top half (and 17th by WAR) in ’21.

(For as much of a bummer as it is to lose Alcantara for next season, Ng did sign him to a five-year, $56 million extension in November 2021. After rehabbing he’ll have at least two more seasons under team control, three if the Marlins exercise his $21 million option for 2027.)

That largely-inherited core has helped to compensate for the team’s limited free agent spending. Of the nine players Ng signed to major league contracts, only four were for multiple seasons. Only three had total values of more than $8.5 million, and the returns on those (Avisaíl García at four years, $53 million, Jorge Soler at three years, $40 million, and Jean Segura at two years, $17 million) haven’t been great, with both García and Segura below replacement level. Soler did hit 36 homers this season, and Ng flipped Segura at the deadline (along with infielder Kahlil Watson, a 45-FV prospect in High-A) to Cleveland for Josh Bell, who had been sub-replacement level in the first year of his two-year, $33 million deal. The Guardians instantly released Segura, eating his remaining salary, while Bell perked up to produce a 119 wRC+ with 0.7 WAR post-trade, aiding the Marlins’ playoff push.

Indeed, Ng’s more notable transactions have involved trades, of which the best thus far has been the July 28, 2021 deal that sent pending free agent Starling Marte to Oakland for Jesús Luzardo, who’s developed into a very good starter and is under club control through 2026. Her most well-known deal is probably the January one that paid quick dividends for both sides, as she sent Pablo López and two teenage prospects to the Twins for Luis Arraez, who flirted with .400 in the first half and won the NL batting title; meanwhile, López helped the Twins win the AL Central and break their 18-game postseason losing streak. Besides Bell, her other key deadline trade this year netted third baseman Jake Burger from the White Sox for 45-FV lefty pitching prospect Jake Eder. Burger hit for a 131 wRC+ and produced 1.1 WAR down the stretch; he’s under club control through 2028.

Not to be overlooked is Ng’s trade for reliever Tanner Scott via a five-player deal with the Orioles in April 2022. In his 10th professional season, the 29-year-old lefty broke out to lead the majors in WAR (2.8) and WPA (4.90) this year thanks to improved control and weaker contact. Ng also acquired reliever A.J. Puk from the A’s for the disappointing Bleday this past February; he and Scott combined for 27 of the team’s 43 saves.

Not all of Ng’s deals have panned out, less due to traded youngsters blossoming into stars à la Gallen (a Hill trade) than to meager performances by the players acquired. The 2021 deadline flip of pending free agent reliever Yimi García to Houston brought outfielder Bryan De La Cruz, who after a promising late-’21 stint has netted just 0.6 WAR in two seasons of regular play. The November 2021 trade of three players for the Pirates’ Gold Glove-winning catcher Jacob Stallings has yielded back-to-back sub-replacement level campaigns. This year’s late-July acquisition of David Robertson from the Mets in exchange for two teenage position players — an unexpected opening salvo regarding both teams’ deadline intentions — brought in a once-elite reliever, though Robertson posted a 5.06 ERA and was supplanted by Scott as closer.

As for the Marlins’ drafts, the jury is still out, as none of the players chosen on Ng’s watch have reached the majors. She dealt Watson, the team’s 2021 first-rounder, after his stock had fallen due to an on-field incident with an umpire. Of the Marlins’ other first-round picks over the past three years, 2021 pick Joe Mack grades out as a 40+ FV prospect, as does 2022 pick Jacob Berry, a third baseman (the only college player of this group). This year’s first rounders, righty Noble Meyer (45+ FV) and lefty Thomas White (45 FV) are the team’s third- and fourth-ranked prospects on The Board behind second baseman Yiddi Cappe and righty Max Meyer, their only two prospects among the Top 100. Meyer, the third pick of the 2020 draft, is recovering from August 2022 Tommy John surgery but could join the rotation at some point next year.

If Ng’s track record in handling the Marlins’ roster is hardly flawless, what head of baseball operations’ record is? The point stands that she built a playoff team despite limited resources, which at the very least puts her ahead of the nine teams around the league that didn’t crack the postseason at all from 2021-23, some while spending much more money. The Marlins are trending in the right direction and will bear Ng’s fingerprints for years. She deserved the security and authority to continue building.

As to where the Marlins go from here, assistant GMs Brian Chattin, Dan Greenlee, and Oz Ocampo are said to be candidates for the GM spot. No names have surfaced yet for the president of baseball operations position, but whoever pursues the job will surely note that both Ng and Hill departed immediately after producing playoff teams — suggesting, perhaps, that escape from the Marlins is the real reward.

As for Ng, she began her career with the White Sox in 1991, rising from an intern to assistant director of baseball operations before leaving in ’96. Those ties could make her an appealing candidate to become the team’s president of baseball operations above Chris Getz, who was promoted from assistant GM to GM after senior VP Ken Williams and GM Rick Hahn were fired in August. The Red Sox also have an opening after firing Chaim Bloom; reportedly, potential candidates such as Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes, Phillies GM Sam Fuld, Twins POBO Derek Falvey, and former Rangers POBO Jon Daniels have all declined to interview given the organization’s recent instability. Maybe Ng will see things differently.

The other high-profile executive opening is the Mets’ GM job after Billy Eppler’s surprising resignation. Owner Steve Cohen recently hired David Stearns as the team’s POBO, so being second in command might hold less appeal for Ng, but on the other hand, she’d join a franchise flush with resources, and her knowledge of the NL East would make her a particularly valuable addition.

To these eyes, the return to New York that would make more sense would be via the Yankees, with Cashman assuming the POBO job. Initial reports that Hal Steinbrenner would bring in outside consultants to perform an audit proved inaccurate, but amid the team’s internal navel-gazing after missing the playoffs, they ought to realize the need for new perspectives in the room. Ng’s quite familiar with Cashman and the pressures of the Bronx, and could bring back what she’s learned in nearly two decades since leaving the team.

Ng began interviewing for GM jobs in 2005, when she did so with the Dodgers, and she interviewed with at least four other teams over the next decade and a half before landing the Marlins’ job. She’s demonstrated her acumen as a front office leader, and deserved a longer run in Miami. But while we can lament the likelihood that the executive pool will become less diverse in her absence, the reality is that this is the Marlins’ loss more than it is hers. Whether or not she lands her next executive job this year, she’ll move on to bigger and better things soon enough.