Leandre: Marlins' GM Kim Ng would be perfect replacement for Chaim Bloom
With only days remaining in her contract as Miami Marlins general manager, Kim Ng emerges as potential candidate to run Red Sox baseball operations.
Despite being bottom-10 in MLB in both payroll and run differential, the Miami Marlins are situated in a tie for the third wild card spot in the National League.
This under-the-radar rise to relevancy comes in just Year 3 of general manager Kim Ng’s tenure running point.
It’s been a steady uphill climb for the Marlins since Ng took over in the offseason following the 2020 season. They’ve gone from 67 wins in 2021 to 69 last year to 84 wins and a Wild Card berth in 2023.
Yet, despite the steady improvement, and despite the climbing track record of roster construction savvy under serious budget restrictions, Miami ownership has neglected to give the 54-year-old pioneer an extension. Thus, leaving her as a lame duck, or soon-to-be free-agent executive.
Should Ng hit the market, the interest in her services should remain astronomically high for any team looking for high-ranking executives in the baseball operations department.
One team in particular, whom she’d be perfect for, is the team with a recent vacancy at the top, the Boston Red Sox.
Similar to its dismissal of Dave Dombrowski in 2019, Fenway Sports Group decided during a mid-September series against the Yankees that Chaim Bloom wouldn’t return as the team’s Chief Baseball Officer.
Not only that, general manager Brian O’Halloran was moved from his role of four years as well.
Names have surfaced as potential replacements for Bloom, including former Sox and current Philadelphia Phillies Vice President, General Manager Sam Fuld, Los Angeles Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes and their VP of Baseball Ops, Josh Byrnes, to name a few.
In recent weeks, not so much in terms of gaining momentum as a candidate, but rather as an idea, Ng’s name came to the forefront of the dialogue. While she’s still running the show in Miami, she’d be the perfect person to finish what Bloom started in Boston.
But why?
Her resume speaks for itself
Even if you want to only look at her tenure with the Marlins, it’s safe to say she’s been pretty darn good.
Her calling card has been her savvy in trades, including the Jake-for-Jake trade in which she acquired Jake Burger from the Chicago White Sox for pitching prospect Jake Eder at this year’s deadline.
Despite hitting just two singles in seven plate appearances against the Phillies in the Wild Card series, Burger slashed .303/.355/.505, good for a 131 wRC+ and 1.1 fWAR in 53 regular-season games post-trade.
She also pulled the trigger on a move many, myself included, criticized at the time, sending right-hander Pablo Lopez to the Minnesota Twins, along with two prospects, for slap-hitting infielder Luis Arraez.
While the initial results appear to be mutually beneficial, the Marlins rotation remains strong (ninth in ERA) and Arraez has garnered more rWAR than Lopez.
Generally speaking, rWAR is considered better for position players because it uses DRS as its defensive metric whereas fWAR is better for pitchers because it accounts for FIP and not ERA. In accounting for both, Arraez has more rWAR (4.9) than Lopez has fWAR (4.5).
Of course, like every executive, there are some duds. For example, right-handed reliever David Robertson had an ERA over five after the trade from Queens to South Beach –– though he finished with a 3.49 FIP and 12.7 K/9 in his Marlins tenure.
Experience working in the confines of both small- and big-market teams
Since her first gig as an intern with the White Sox, Ng’s worked for several organizations, including Major League Baseball, over the span of a now 30-plus-year career.
She’s taken associate GM positions with the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers while receiving interviews from the Los Angeles Angels, San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners for the role of general manager.
WEEI’s Rob Bradford, in talking to former New York Mets and Baltimore Orioles GM Jim Duquette, mentioned Ng’s impending free agency, to which Duquette admitted he tried to recruit her to join him with the Mets.
“She and I have had a longstanding friendship and relationship that I thought was going to culminate in working together,” Duquette told Bradford on the ‘Baseball Isn’t Boring’ Podcast. “She’s got that big-market experience. She knows what winning does in those markets.
“She’s had payroll flexibility and now she’s in a market where she doesn’t have as much flexibility … she’s made good major-league trades now that she’s been running the show herself.”
Budgetary constraints? No problem
One of many defenses for Bloom was that FSG, though largely speculative even though one can infer the reality, told the first-time point-man to curb spending and win while staying under the confines of the luxury tax.
With the exception of 2021, albeit a near American League pennant-winning campaign, Bloom failed to deliver the winning aspect.
As for Ng, she’s had her struggles for sure. As mentioned before, the Marlins couldn’t eclipse 70 wins in either of her first two seasons. But in spite of all that, she’s managed to piece together a ballclub that pitched exceptionally well and scratched and clawed their way to wins.
She’s already made moves the Red Sox should emulate
Her notable moves include the Jorge Soler signing. The 31-year-old slugger, who may become a free agent at season’s end, bounced back big from an injury- and struggle-filled 2022 campaign with 36 home runs and a 126 wRC+ in 137 games (102 at DH).
While results have come and gone for the former Cub and Brave, he is a two-time World Series Champ and one-time World Series MVP with pull-power galore. Among the 255 right-handed hitters to see at least 2,000 pitches since 2021, he’s tied for 23rd in pulled home runs.
Not that the Red Sox, who have a glaring need for right-handed power, would make their baseball ops decision around Soler’s free agency, but it wouldn’t hurt to bring someone in who has already recruited and signed him once before.
She also extended 2022 NL Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara to a very team-friendly extension of five years for $56 million with a club option for a sixth year at $21 million. While the reigning Cy Young didn’t have a strong follow-up to that campaign, he’s still one of the league’s best workhorses, leading the league in complete games with three.
Ng’s two highest-paid players –– Soler and outfielder Avisail Garcia –– combine for roughly what Bloom gave shortstop Trevor Story. Her three highest-paid –– those two and Alcantara –– combined to make about as much this year as third baseman Rafael Devers will make alone in 2024.
In other words, she can find value in lesser dollar figures that can complement the higher-earning salaries of players the Red Sox already have, assuming FSG opens its checkbook and allows her to spend –– should it hire her.
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