The Kim Ng sweepstakes are officially underway with multiple reports coming out this week that could affect the White Sox.
On Friday Ng, declined a chance to interview with the Boston Red, according to a report from Chris Cotillo and Sean McAdam of MassLive.com. The news perked up the ears of many White Sox fans.
Ng is currently the most sought front office executive available after declining her mutual option with the Miami Marlins. The decision came after Marlins brass informed Ng that they wanted to hire a President of Baseball Operations over her.
It just so happens the White Sox are looking for a President of Baseball Operations and given Ng’s previous ties to the organization she seems like a perfect fit. It also appears that she has no interest in going to Boston which eliminates a marquee team looking to fill a front office vacancy.
Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic was the first to report that there were some rumblings in the industry that the White Sox are interested in having Ng oversee newly promoted general manager Chris Getz.
However, on Wednesday MLB insider Jon Heyman told White Sox fans to temper their expectations during an appearance on 670 the Score with Mully & Haugh.
Heyman pointed out how the White Sox old power structure with General Manager Rick Hahn and Vice President Kenny Williams that led was a complete failure. The pair were often not on the same page with Willams even going over Hahn’s head to trade Jake Burger at the deadline.
Those days are over, but with already Getz given the power to call all the shots bringing in Ng may lead to some issues.
“It would be a little weird, I know she previously worked for the White Sox, to bring her in as Getz’s boss. I don’t think he’s anticipating that. Part of the problem with the White Sox was they had two bosses with Rick Hahn and Kenny Williams. It was kind of like a Steinbrener model and I think that’s difficult.”
This is one of the many reasons that the decision to hire Getz as quickly as the White Sox did is a puzzling one. Had Reinsdorf just waited a few months a great candidate like Ng could have fallen right into his lap. Now the White Sox are worried about having too many voices in the front office, which may be enough to scare off Ng if she feels she won’t have decision-making power.
Getz has already brought in Josh Barfield to be his assistant GM and Gene Watson to serve as the director of player personnel. Bringing in Ng would mean more shuffling of the front office, which wouldn’t be the worst thing for an organization coming off a 100-loss season.
