INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- It's not exactly the television show Commander in Chief yet, and maybe it never will be. But as the general managers' meetings commence here this week and the Los Angeles Dodgers flail about with precious little direction, veteran front-office executive Kim Ng remains positioned to become the game's first female GM.
Will it happen?
Likely not. The Dodgers have humiliated themselves over the past year to the point where they are so public-relations conscious, they hire a new flack each time somebody coughs. As such, the organization that once gave the world Jackie Robinson no longer is in position to break barriers. Instead, the Dodgers have a difficult enough time keeping the office nameplates current.
Could it happen?
Ng, the Dodgers' vice president and assistant general manager, and Roy Smith, vice president of player development, are here as co-interim GMs this week in the aftermath of Paul DePodesta's firing, laying the groundwork for what Los Angeles hopes is a winter of adding a key bat or two. The Dodgers interviewed Ng, 36, for the GM job on Saturday. And at least one high-profile GM thinks that she is qualified to do the job.
Yankees GM Brian Cashman, who employed Ng as his assistant from 1998-2001 because he was highly impressed with her knowledge of waiver rules and other technicalities, said she did a "tremendous job" with the Yankees and he figures she has only grown since moving on to the Dodgers in 2002.
"She was very good, and she's only going to be better now," Cashman said. "Kim is a worthy person to interview. Through many stages of her career, I argue that she was better than me.
"If I can do what I'm doing, I know she can do it. She possesses a lot of qualities. I look in the mirror and say if I've gotten to this point, she can get to this point, too. She takes it seriously."
Ng (pronounced, "Eng"), speaking between meetings scheduled here Tuesday afternoon, was uncomfortable discussing either her candidacy for the Dodgers job or her prospect of becoming the first woman GM in the game's history.
"It is cool," she said. "But they've asked all of the candidates not to speak (during) the process."
Indeed, the Dodgers have vowed secrecy throughout -- probably a good policy because, under owner Frank McCourt, they've proven incompetent in almost all facets. So why give the public a chance to laugh at each wrong turn when they can make everyone wait in order to endure just one chorus of laughing at the end of the process?
The Dodgers' first choice for GM was Pat Gillick, but he turned and sprinted the other way when McCourt approached him. Actually, sources familiar with the talks said that Gillick was polite in telling the Dodgers that he had no interest in them, a few days after which he agreed to become Philadelphia's GM.
They since have received permission to speak with former Cleveland and Texas GM John Hart, who could come to Los Angeles in a package deal with Dodgers legend Orel Hershiser as his assistant/apprentice/GM-in-waiting. However, one source familiar with the Dodgers' thinking said Hart is no shoo-in and that the Dodgers likely will continue searching even after interviewing Ng and Hart.
