First Female GM? Kim Ng a Possibility for the Padres

Kim Ng, a Candidate for Padres GM Position

The Padres are certainly leaving no stone unturned in their search for the next general manager. The latest name to surface would certainly be a groundbreaking one, as Jon Heyman reports that Kim Ng is to be interviewed and would be the first female general manager in any major sport.

Currently Ng is serving as MLB’s senior VP of baseball operations, but she has interviewed in the past for GM vacancies for the Dodgers, Mariners, and the Padres several years ago. She has served as the assistant GM for the Dodgers and Yankees.

As described here, Ng has an intense focus to be a major league general manager. Note it is not necessarily important to her that she is the first woman. That she leaves to the critics to make a big deal out of. She just wants her shot. At 29, she became the youngest assistant general manager when she took that post with the Yankees. In 2001, she went over to the Dodgers in the same position and interviewed for the open general manager’s job but was passed over for Ned Coletti.

She is known as a tough negotiator and at only 43 would add a youthful flair the front office, not much different than the other executive suite off of Murphy Canyon at the Chargers compound.

Is she right for the team though?

The Padres are certainly being thorough in their search, as it seems like someone new is popping up as an option every day. Her current boss, Joe Torre, raves about her work ethic and intelligence, a review that goes a long way. The Padres should do whatever it takes to get the right person, and I am confident in the ownership group to make their decision based on the facts, and their own intelligence not to get caught up in anything else except who is right to lead this team to a world championship. The franchise is at a balancing point – new ownership, high payroll, and teetering in the wind. Will they lean right towards a familiar face in someone like Kevin Towers, or is it time they lean in?