Kim Ng interview on Baseball Prospectus
Jonah Keri has a cool Kim Ng interview on Baseball Prospectus today. Apptly she didn’t interview for the M’s job (which doesn’t necc. rule out the reported phone conversation, if it wasn’t an “interview” interview)
And then maybe fire him a third time
Kim Ng, formerly an Officially Endorsed Candidate for Mariners GM, is in the news for the wrong reasons — Bill Singer of the Mets got drunk and made an ass of himself in a hotel bar after an Arizona Fall League game. From the New York Daily News which has the only detailed account I found this morning:
According to people at the conference with knowledge of what happened, an apparently drunken Singer approached Ng and belligerently asked: “What are you doing here?”
“I’m working,” Ng replied.
“What are you doing here?” Singer repeated.
“I’m the assistant general manager of the Dodgers.”
“Where are you from?” Singer asked.
“I’m from Indiana,” Ng said, referring to her birthplace. She was raised in Ridgewood, N.J.
“No, where are you from?” Singer asked.
“My family is originally from China,” Ng said.
Singer then allegedly started speaking gibberish, making fun of Chinese – which led Cashman to act, sources said.
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The Mets are still employing Singer, though they’re waffling on whether or not that might be the case. They’ll probably try and gauge public reaction to see if they have to.
They should have fired him on the spot. Oh, I know how hard it is to actually fire people, and the lawsuits you can incur, but this is a clear case where you have to fire someone and come out and say “I only wish we employed other members of his family and his friends so we could fire them, too. We’re considering re-hiring him so we can fire him again.” And if he fires a lawsuit on the termination, you counter-sue for damage done to your organization and get to destroy them on the stand in front of a jury, and the worst thing that happens is some of your lawyers are tied up for a while making an expressive point about your organization’s feelings about the matter.
This is just stupid.
I did like that Ng made Singer run around the block before he could act like an idiot. “Where are you from?” indeed. She’s from America, you racist slack-jawed yokel, same as you. Get over it or move to Russia.
Kim Ng’s resume
One of my favorite candidates who likely won’t be considered is Kim Ng. Ng (say ‘Ang’, the name’s Chinese) was the Assistant GM for the Yankees a couple years ago and is now the Assistant General Manager for the Dodgers. She’s 34, which isn’t as young as DePodesta but probably too young for the Mariners. She’s huge on the contracts and negotiations, she did something in MLB offices for a while before the Yankees hired her and knows stuff like the waiver rules and related trickery cold. The’s supposedly a math/stats “genius” though I’m not sure what that entails, exactly.
Resume:
B of A, Public Policy, University of Chicago
White Sox: 90, started as an intern in contract and arbitration, 91 promoted to “Special Projects Analyst”. 95, Assistant Director of Baseball Operations
MLB: 97-98 Director of Waivers and Player Records
Yankees: 98-01, Assistant General Manager
left the Yankees, chilled, then–
Dodgers: Assistant General Manager
We complain about Gillick spending his budget wisely, and Dave cites this as a good reason to pursue Chris Antonetti. In addition to the other stuff, Ng’s supposedly huge on figuring out player value and where they belong in the market. Brian Cashman loves her. She beat Scott Boras in an arbitration hearing, which is almost unheard of.
“Baseball executive in US breaks mold,” Taipei Times 5/12/2002 (includes this photo)
“GM: A distaff position?” Boston Globe, 8/31/2003
… and many others. She seems good-natured about being featured in a lot of these dumb articles.
Only real problem, she grew up in New Jersey as a Yankee fan. Actually, it’s that she doesn’t have the kind of scouting background someone like, say, Dave, would want to see. And to that, I’d say: pah. As if the M’s don’t need scouting expertise at the top, they need someone who can put together a bad-ass roster, and she can do that.
Kim Ng is my number one choice. It’s a gutsy, sharp move, which means the M’s won’t even think about it. She’s way smarter than Gillick, she’s worked with M’s-style budgets, we’re after Matsui, she’s handled large contract negotiations for foreign players, she’s a geek about exactly the stuff Gillick sucks at and have crippled the team the last couple of years.