Kim Ng interviews for Dodger GM job

[lethal]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BBO_GM_MEETINGS?SITE=CTDAN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

By RONALD BLUM
AP Baseball Writer

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) -- A new breed of young, brainy number-crunchers has changed the image of baseball general managers, who for years were known for their cigar-chomping, hard-drinking ways.

If Kim Ng's latest job interview works out, an even bigger transformation will come any day now.

Ng interviewed last weekend to become general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and would become the first woman to fill the GM role on a major league team.

"I've been out in the field with her, scouted. I've been in the back rooms with her, around the table. She's as qualified as any guy sitting in there around the table," said Ken Williams, GM of the World Series champion Chicago White Sox.

Ng, who turns 37 on Nov. 17, was the New York Yankees' assistant general manager for four years before becoming an assistant GM with the Dodgers in December 2001. Los Angeles GM Paul DePodesta was fired by owner Frank McCourt last month, and the team received permission to interview former Texas and Cleveland GM John Hart. Former Boston GM Theo Epstein might also be a possibility.

"The McCourts have asked the candidates basically not to discuss the whole situation," Ng said Tuesday at the annual general managers' meetings, where she is co-leading the Dodgers' delegation along with Roy Smith, the team's vice president of player development.

Only three women have risen to assistant GM. The first was Elaine Weddington Steward, hired by the Boston Red Sox in 1990. When Ng (pronounced ING) left the Yankees, she was replaced by Jean Afterman, a lawyer who had worked for agent Don Nomura.

Afterman said she never felt gender issues with players, but she did when working alongside club officials.

"You feel it in what I call quaint ways," she said. "The guys tend to try to modify their language. There are two things that I try and establish any time I'm going into a room where I don't know the people. One is that I'm an attorney, because there's a healthy respect. The other is I have to drop a profanity as soon as I come in there. I probably have a worse mouth than anybody else in my department."

Ng worked for the White Sox from 1990-96, when Dan Evans was the team's assistant GM, and Evans hired her when he became GM of the Dodgers. After she left the White Sox, Ng became director of waivers and player records for the American League for one year.

"Everybody here knows Kim, and they've known her for quite some time," said Yankees GM Brian Cashman, who hired her as his assistant in March 1998. "If she gets hired, whether it's for the Dodgers or anybody else, it's going to be because someone believes she has the ability to do that job.

"She's not going to get the job because she's a woman, and I don't think she's getting interviewed because she's a woman. I think she's getting interviewed because she deserves to have that opportunity because of that hard work she's put forth."

Afterman, who hopes to become a GM one day, said familiarity is key.

"I suspect that her experience was similar to mine. It does take a few years for our peer community to get comfortable with you," she said. "She clearly has their trust and respect, and I think that's important. And I think that probably took some time. A lot of these guys have worked together for 20 years. A lot of them have been in baseball for 30 years, and for 25 of them they've gone out with the same guys."

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

However, remember the Mets Bill Singer making racially insensitive remarks about her, mocking her Asianness?

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/137041p-121768c.html

We talked about it here:
http://forums.yellowworld.org/showthread.php?t=10770

[haplesshobo]

She actually has a very good chance of becoming the next GM for the Dodgers, and rumour is that Jamie McCourt, the Owner's wife, is pushing for Ng to be get the job. I would want her to get the job because she was the best candidate for that opening.

However, I get the feeling if she does get it, she'll get it for several factors:
1) All the other best possible candidates for GM were not interested and rejected Dodgers offers. Pat Gillick chose Philly over the Dodgers. And, Theo Epstein doesn't sound interested either. There was a time when people would have wanted to be the GM of the Dodgers, but it seems not so anymore. I don't want her to be chosen just because there was nobody else to turn to.

This is probably unfair, but I'd prefer to have someone with previous experience as a GM. I don't want a repeat of Depodesta, somebody who was very qualified and talented as assistant GM, but just wasn't ready to be GM.

2) She's willing to take a cheaper offer than the other possible GMs out there. McCourt is a cheap bastard, who didn't have the money to buy the Dodgers. Despite promises to keep payroll at 100M, he's been cutting it back. That would definitely be a factor with McCourt, if he knew he could Ng much less than what he would need to pay other GMs.

[Faithless]

People around here wonder why I would like the Dodgers. I tell them, other than the fact that they have a great tradition, I like how they've hired more Asians, it seems, than any other organization.

But it sounds like she'd be fighting an uphill battle even if she were selected.

According to this columnist:

It's the wrong job for her to make history, because soon enough she'll be history, given the McCourts' penchant for finding scapegoats when things go wrong.

Dream Could Be a Bad One for Ng (http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/dodgers/la-sp-adande11nov11,1,683241.column?coll=la-headlines-sports&ctrack=1&cset=true)

November 11, 2005 * J.A. Adande:

Kim Ng is well prepared to be a groundbreaking general manager, which is why I hope she doesn't get that chance with the Dodgers.

When it comes to coaches and general managers, diversity is normally a byproduct of prosperity or desperation — and we know which category the Dodgers are in. That makes this job the wrong place and time for Ng to become the first Asian and female GM in major professional sports.

Success starts at the top, and because Frank and Jamie McCourt have not shown an organizational commitment to winning at all costs, Ng would be set up to fail, just another candidate to join the growing list of former Dodger general managers. Then it would be impossible for her to land another GM job. As hard as it would be for a team to sell a female general manager to its fans, imagine trying to sell them on a woman with a losing record. And the problem with being first is, Ng would represent every woman who hoped to follow her.

Chavez Ravine has been such a bad place for general managers over the last eight years that even male GMs can't overcome the stigma. Of the four men who have held the position since Fred Claire got the boot in 1998, none has landed a similar job with another team.

The situation is as bleak as it has been in a while. We don't know how closer Eric Gagne and shortstop Cesar Izturis will recover from their surgeries. We don't know whom the Dodgers will get to replace Milton Bradley. There are questions at the corner infield positions. There are payroll restrictions and few tradable assets. The one strength, a solid farm system, might not kick in soon enough to benefit her.

Most of all, we don't know who will manage the team.

Could Ng survive if a manager who wasn't her pick second-guessed her decisions to the media?

Unfortunately, because somebody has to be first, these are some of the issues Ng, 36, would face in addition to representing a new era in baseball.

Her qualifications can't be questioned. She went to a top-notch school, the University of Chicago. She has worked for the White Sox under Ron Schueler and Dan Evans, the Yankees under Brian Cashman and the Dodgers under Evans again in an era that's starting to look like the good old days. She has helped negotiate contracts with the likes of Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera.

If stat-geek boys who didn't play the game or drive rental cars from minor league town to minor league town can grow up to be general managers, why can't girls do it?

Those who have worked with her say she's thorough and professional in everything she does. She might be undervalued publicly because she doesn't seek credit for things she has done, but that endears her even more to her associates.

And yet she'll face unprecedented challenges because she's an Asian woman. She already had to deal with a regrettable incident at the general managers meetings in 2003, when Met scout Bill Singer mocked her with an outlandish Chinese accent. (Singer was fired for his behavior.)

But this is a case where gender trumps ethnicity. Perhaps the biggest question is how she will be received in the clubhouse. One of the problems with Paul DePodesta was he wasn't at ease with the players. Will Ng be able to interact comfortably with them in that ultimate boys' room, when the players are in various stages of undress? Perhaps more important, would any potential employers have the confidence that she could?

Women are making progress in baseball. In the latest Racial and Gender Report Card, released by Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida, baseball's gender grade was upgraded from a D to a C compared to the previous year.

Normally important hires that vary from the norm (white males) come when a team has a surplus of good will or is in such dire straits that it might as well try something new. Omar Minaya got his break as the first Latino GM with the down-and-out Montreal Expos.

Of course, most teams don't need a new coach, manager or general manager if things are going well.

But the Boston Red Sox have had their manager or GM job open up after playoff appearances in two of the last three years. So it does happen.

Ng has even made an appearance on the list of candidates to replace Theo Epstein in Boston. In that instance, her childhood roots as a Yankee fan would be a greater impediment than her gender.

I hope Ng can land her dream job … somewhere else.

She can do more for the Dodgers than they can do for her. Frank McCourt could be a modern-day Branch Rickey, letting Ng do for female executives what Jackie Robinson did for African American players. Ng has been around for four years, which would bring some much-needed stability to the team. She'd deflect attention from the rash of terminations.

It's such an opportunity for women, she would almost have to take it if offered. But she deserves better than this.

It's the wrong job for her to make history, because soon enough she'll be history, given the McCourts' penchant for finding scapegoats when things go wrong.

Then she wouldn't be known as the first female general manager. She would be just another ex-Dodger.

J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Adande go to latimes.com/Adande.

[power puff girl]

here's another article that talks more specifically what her duties and responsibilites have been. she sounds like she'd make a great manager.

http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051103&content_id=1264363&vkey=news_la&fext=.jsp&c_id=la

and, i better not read any comments about her picture in that article. we're here to discuss her qualifications, and what impact that might have on sports in general.

[lethal]

The Dodgers went with SF Giants Asst GM Ned Colletti.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2225383

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers have hired San Francisco Giants vice president and assistant general manager Ned Colletti as their new GM.

Colletti is to be introduced at a Wednesday morning news conference.

Colletti, hired to succeed Paul DePodesta, was selected over Kim Ng, the Dodgers' assistant GM, and John Hart, who resigned as the Texas Rangers' general manager Oct. 4 but remains under contract as a consultant.

The 50-year-old Colletti has been in the Giants' organization for 11 years -- the past nine as assistant to general manager Brian Sabean. Before that, Colletti worked for the Chicago Cubs from 1982-94.

The Dodgers' GM job became vacant Oct. 29 when DePodesta was fired after less than two years on the job. DePodesta signed a five-year contract in February 2004, shortly after McCourt purchased the team from News Corp.

The Dodgers are also without a manager. McCourt said at the time of DePodesta's firing that the search to replace Jim Tracy would be on hold until a GM is in place.

The team's 71-91 record this year was its worst since 1992 and second-poorest since the franchise moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1958.

[haplesshobo]

Ecck... Not very impressed with this choice either. He and Ng were the finalists, but its not like the Dodgers had a lot of options either. I read that Hart had also rejected the Dodgers, as did Gillick and Epstein. It seems like the Dodgers had to go to the B team for this opening. After all the other qualified applicants had already rejected the Dodgers, the Dodgers were basically left with whoever was desperate enough to take the job.

Probably the deciding factor in favor of this guy was that he was used to dealing with a smaller budget with the Giants at around 60-70M, and would be used to dealing with the fiscal constraints that McCourt is going to impose on the team. His strength is in negotiations and contracts, not necessairly in putting together a team. And, of course, Barry Bonds covered up a lot of holes the Giants had.

But, does this mean Ng is on the way out? That GM's strength seems to overlap with Ng, who also handled negotiations and contracts for the Dodgers. Maybe, she goes back to the Yankees then? I know Cashman came out and supported her, but how could he not? To have talked shit about her would have made him seem like a racist asshole.

[Faithless]

and, i better not read any comments about her picture in that article. we're here to discuss her qualifications, and what impact that might have on sports in general.
It's the lighting. :biggrin:

Maybe the giants can hire her!

[lethal]

Ng was a candidate for the Boston job as well. I'm not sure if she's still in the running for that job.

[Faithless]

Ng was a candidate for the Boston job as well. I'm not sure if she's still in the running for that job.
I guess --

Red Sox notebook: Bowden takes the second (http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/sportsColumnists/view.bg?articleid=114687)

But it looks like they're looking at others, first.

By Michael Silverman / Boston Herald
Friday, November 18, 2005

The Red Sox added Jim Bowden to their list of general manager candidates to be asked back for a second interview, joining Jim Beattie. In addition, other candidates are on deck, and don't be surprised if Dan Evans, former general manager of the Dodgers, soon pops up on the interview list. Evans, now working in the Mariners' scouting department, is interested and there are indications the Sox have reciprocal interest.

Dodgers assistant GM Kim Ng also remains a possibility.

Meanwhile, the Sox may consider asking major league clubs for permission to speak to current general managers. So far, that option has not been exercised.

Beattie's invitation for a second interview became known on Wednesday, five days after his first interview. The invitation for Bowden, current GM of the Nationals, became public eight days after he interviewed with the Sox in California during the general managers meetings.

Bowden, a native of Weston, is keen on the job, both because he has always wanted it and because with an impending ownership takeover in Washington, he understands he is essentially serving as the interim GM until the new owners bring in their own crew.

The Sox have already been rejected for a second interview by Atlanta assistant GM Dayton Moore. Plus, two highly recommended names -- Cleveland assistant GM Chris Antonetti and Toronto player personnel guru Tony LaCava -- turned down the opportunity to interview even once.

Beattie said Wednesday he expects to be interviewed this weekend or early next week. Team president and CEO Larry Lucchino, who is leading the GM search, is in Milwaukee for the owners meetings.

[haplesshobo]

Ng was a candidate for the Boston job as well. I'm not sure if she's still in the running for that job.

If she didn't get the Dodgers job, I don't see her getting it with Boston either.

With Boston, she would be going against a much stronger field of candidates than what she was facing with the Dodgers. McCourt is a total joke, and most of the qualified applicants like Gillick and Hart were reluctant to go after the job because of McCourt. I don't think you're going to see other possible candidates reluctant to apply for the Red Sox job because of ownership.

And, she was a more valuable to the Dodgers than to the Red Sox since she had been working with the Dodgers for the past several years and thus was already familiar with the Dodger system and the talent. If she had been with the Red Sox for the past several years, she would have been a stronger candidate for that opening than for the Dodgers. That's would makes her still valuable to the new GM in the short term, as he's going to lean on her to catch up even though their strengths seem to overlap.

It'll be interesting to see if she still stays. Does all this mean that she has hit the proverbial glass ceiling with the Dodgers organization, or does it mean that she'll be the logical choice the next time there's an opening for that position? Does she move onto another organization, or does she wait it out for a few years for the Dodgers to fire this GM. This Dodger team is simply not going to be good in the next few years with the talent they have, and with the financial restrictions McCourt is going to place. But, in a few years, she would be in the position to reap the talent of their farm system, assuming that the Colletti didn't already trade away all that talent.

I remember with UCLA where we rooted for the basketball team to lose because that would mean that Steve Lavin would finally get fired, and we'd get a real coach. But, with McCourt that won't happen as he'll fire the GM like he's fired all the other front office employees and we'll still be stuck with McCourt. It doesn't matter who the GM is as long as we McCourt running the show. He's the new Donald Sterling.

[Faithless]

She could be let go. Maybe:

http://www.dailybreeze.com/sports/articles/1991777.html

...
[Dodgers spokesman Josh] Rawitch also confirmed that assistant GM Kim Ng and vice president Roy Smith would travel to Florida for the meetings [meet with Jim Fregosi and Terry Collins to discuss the team's vacant managerial position]. There hasn't been an official announcement concerning the status of Ng or Smith since the hiring of Colletti, but indications are both will remain with the Dodgers.

[haplesshobo]

and, i better not read any comments about her picture in that article. we're here to discuss her qualifications, and what impact that might have on sports in general.

Well, in a male dominated profession which is not going to easily embrace a female, it was probably necessary for her to adapt the secondary physical characteristics of a male in this situation in the picture. She probably also forces herself to swear and to burp at times as well.

[haplesshobo]

I'm even more down on the Dodgers signing Coletti as GM after the latest free agent signing, where the Dodgers signed Furcal for 3 years at 13 million each year. The Dodgers totally overpaid for Furcal, giving him Beltre money even though they thought that was too much for Beltre. Furcal is a good player, but there are other shortstops like Teljada, who is only getting 11 million and that guy was an MVP.

Its not necessairly overpaying for a good player that's the problem. Its just that the Dodgers have more pressing needs in OF, 3rd baseman, starting pitcher. Furcal fills a hole that was at the bottom of their list of concerns; that 13M was pitcher money. Reports are that the Dodgers had budgeted only about 18M this offseason for FA signings, and they basically blew most of it on Furcal, leaving them with little money to address all their more pressing needs.