Kim Ng Deserved More From the Marlins

The FanGraphs Newsletter, October 18, 2023 [READ IN BROWSER]( October 18, 2023 Kim Ng broke ground as both the majors’ first female general manager, and its first of East Asian descent, the culmination of a three-decade rise through the front offices of the White Sox, Yankees, Dodgers, and Major League Baseball. But after a three-season run during which she guided the Marlins to just their fourth postseason appearance ever, not to mention their first full-season finish above .500 since 2009, she and the team have parted ways. [Reportedly]( while the Marlins exercised their end of a mutual option for 2024, she declined her end, believing she had earned a stronger commitment from ownership. After a decade and a half of interviews that put her on the [cusp of history]( Ng became the first female GM of a men’s team in any major league North American professional sport when the Marlins hired her in November 2020. She took over on the heels of the pandemic-shortened season, during which the Marlins went 31-29 and made the expanded playoffs, their first postseason appearance of any kind since 2003. The Marlins backslid to 67-95 in 2021 and 69-93 last year amid considerable organizational upheaval, but this year’s team broke through, winning 84 games (albeit with a -57 run differential) and drawing 1.16 million fans, the NL’s lowest total but the team’s highest since 2017, when it was still under the ownership of Jeffrey Loria. The Marlins finished third in the NL East, and through a tiebreaker claimed the fifth playoff seed. They dropped two games to the Phillies and were eliminated on October 4. Generally such breakthroughs elicit extension offers that provide security instead of placing executives in lame-duck positions. Ng did receive an offer, [according]( to ESPN’s Buster Olney, but it came with a catch. Owner Bruce Sherman is seeking to bring in a president of baseball operations, a senior executive to whom Ng would have reported. Understandably, moving down the pecking order wasn’t what Ng had in mind, as she had hopes of expanding and reshaping the front office under her own vision, cutting ties with holdovers in the scouting and player development department “with whom she did not reach a good working relationship,” [according]( to the New York Post’s Joel Sherman. [READ MORE]( [Nola Shines, Bats Erupt as Phillies Take 2-0 NLCS Lead]( The Diamondbacks find themselves in a hole after a 10-0 Game 2 loss. | by Kyle Kishimoto [How to Live the Entire Human Experience in One Inning]( The unceasing demands of baseball, and its limitless potential to deliver failure, conversely offer something wonderful: Equally limitless opportunity for redemption. | by Michael Baumann [Adam Wainwright Explains the Sweeper: A Close Reading]( Brushing up on the basics of one of baseball's not-so-new pitches. | by Tess Taruskin [NLDS Managerial Report Card: Brian Snitker]( Snitker wasn't up to his usual high standards in Atlanta's division series loss, but he was still no slouch. | by Ben Clemens 🎧 [Effectively Wild Episode 2073: Veeck As in Discotheque]( [DOWNLOAD THE FANGRAPHS APP]( [FanGraphs & Effectively Wild Merch Is Now Available at BreakingT!]( [ORDER HERE]( [Scherzer ready for hard-fought Rangers postseason debut]( by Kennedi Landry, MLB [Rangers' Evan Carter is a breakout star]( by Bradford Doolittle, ESPN [The Phillies have owned October. They have that look again, but this feels different]( by Matt Gelb, The Athletic ($) [Underrated MLB Hitting Prospects At The Upper Levels According To RoboScout]( by Dylan White, Baseball America ($) [@fangraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [RSS]( [FORWARD]( [SUBSCRIBE]( Copyright © 2023 FanGraphs Inc, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the FanGraphs Newsletter. Our mailing address is: FanGraphs Inc 1200 N Hartford St. Apt 312Arlington, Va 22201 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](