Sources told ESPN that the Miami Marlins wanted to hire a president of baseball operations instead of general manager Kim Ng, even though Ng had built a playoff team this year. Ng quit the team on Monday.
Ng, who is 54 years old, was the top woman in the front office of a big men’s North American professional sports team. In November 2020, the Marlins hired her as general manager, making her the first woman to hold that position in Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NBA, or the NHL. Her deal included a joint option for 2024. Bruce Sherman, the owner of the Marlins, said in a statement that the team used its choice, but Ng turned down hers.
Fox News’ Buster Olney was told that Ng was offered a contract extension, but she turned it down.
“Burt and I talked about his plan to change the baseball operations department last week. “It became clear that we didn’t agree on everything about what that should look like,” Ng told The Athletic on Monday. “I thought it would be best to leave. I want to thank the Marlins family and friends from the bottom of my heart for having me in South Florida. This past year was a big step forward for the group.
Another surprise was that the team wanted to hire someone other than Ng to run baseball operations. Other executives in baseball praised her work with the 2023 Marlins. At the trade deadline, she added third baseman Jake Burger and first baseman Josh Bell to a weak lineup. This helped the Marlins finish with an 84-78 record and the last wild card spot in the National League.
The Marlins improved by 15 games from the previous season after Ng hired manager Skip Schumaker, who is under contract for 2024 with a team option for 2025. The minus-57 run difference was the worst ever for a playoff team. The Marlins made the playoffs for the first time in a full season since 2003. In the wild-card round, they were swept by the Philadelphia Phillies.
During her three years with the Marlins, Ng had to deal with a lot of trouble. In February 2022, Hall of Famer Derek Jeter quit as CEO of the Marlins because he and Sherman had different ideas about how to run the team. After four months, the Marlins fired Gary Denbo, who was vice president of player development and scouting. Denbo had a falling out with some people in the company.
They made progress when Ng was in charge. Jesus Luzardo, a left-handed pitcher that Miami got at the trade deadline in 2021, became a solid starter in his first full season with the team. When Eury Perez made his appearance this year, he was only 27 days old, he was a big surprise. The Marlins’ starting pitching was strong, even though Sandy Alcantara, the NL Cy Young Award winner, was having trouble. Alcantara just had Tommy John surgery.
The offense still had trouble, but second baseman Luis Arraez gave them a boost. He won the NL batting title with a.354 average after being traded to the Miami Marlins for right-hander Pablo Lopez in the winter.
Miami’s free agent deals of third baseman Jean Segura and first baseman Yuli Gurriel didn’t work out, but Burger and Bell, who took their places, helped the team win the NL wild card spot.
Burger hit.303/.355/.505 with nine home runs in 53 games, while Bell hit.270/.338/.480 with 11 home runs. Burger is under team control for five more seasons, and Bell is under team control for one more year, though he can opt out this winter.
He said in the statement, “We thank Kim for her work while she was with our organization and wish her and her family the best.” “We will immediately begin a thorough and extensive search for new leadership as we plan to continue to invest in the Marlins organization both on and off the field.”
At the moment, the Boston Red Sox are the only team hiring for a head of baseball operations. They fired chief baseball office Chaim Bloom in September.
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