The San Diego Padres took a major step toward possibly hiring the first female general manager ever after reportedly interviewing Kim Ng for their GM vacancy, per The Associated Press, via ESPN.com:
Ng is among the highest-ranking women in baseball, serving as senior vice president for baseball operations for Major League Baseball. There has never been a female GM in MLB or any of the other major sports.
She was assistant GM of the New York Yankees from 1998-01 and had been the Los Angeles Dodgers' assistant GM for nine years before joining the commissioner's office.
Ng interviewed with the Padres in 2009 after Kevin Towers was fired. The job eventually went to Jed Hoyer.
The Padres are having a lot of trouble finding viable candidates, especially after A.J. Hinch and Omar Minaya removed themselves from consideration, per CBSSports.com's Jon Heyman and Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal:
Ng is the eighth person the team has interviewed, per Jeff Sanders of The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Hinch, who serves as the team's assistant GM, told the AP that he "wished (the Padres) well in their search to find the right leader for them."
"In the meantime, my focus will be to continue to work in the best interest of the organization at an important time of the year," he added.
Writing for The San Diego Union-Tribune, Matt Calkins argued that Ng is more than simply a publicity ploy on the part of the Padres and that San Diego should seriously consider her for the position:
Some theorize that she is a token interview—MLB's way of trying to look progressive when, in reality, those positions were never within her reach. But that can't be the case. Not when Ng has achieved as much as she has with as many teams as she's worked for.
No, what is more likely true is that nobody has been willing to take a chance on her. Nobody wants to be the guy who got suckered into hiring a woman when it becomes evident she was in over her head.
Well, this is the Padres' chance to be bold. This is President Mike Dee's opportunity to make what would be both the correct and historical choice.
There's no question that hiring Ng would be a major gamble for San Diego. Appointing a new GM is always a leap of faith, but this would obviously be a much different situation.
The organization would be viewed as a joke by some critics who think that hiring a female GM is somehow beneath an MLB team.
However, the fact that Ng has continued to rise in a male-dominated field is a testament to her ability. She wouldn't have gotten as far as she has if she wasn't extremely good at her job.
The Padres have one winning season since 2008 and haven't made the playoffs since 2006. They clearly need an organizational shakeup, and maybe Ng is the person who can make that happen.
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