The Phillies checked item one off of their to-do before the offseason even started by hiring Pete Mackanin as their non-interim manager for next year, with a team option for the following year. The contract seems tailor-made for a new GM. You don’t have to worry about hiring a manager, but it’s easy to move on from him if you want. So now, GM is next.

Speaking to Gregggg Murphy during yesterday’s game, Andy MacPhail talked about that future GM:

“Well, I think my concern was that if we go on a general manager search, that’s going to probably be a few-to-several week process.

If he or she should want to come in and make a managerial change, that’s a three or four week process.

Then you’re going to spend two weeks trying to create a coaching staff. You’re going to end up losing half your offseason, just to sort of be at a place where everybody is starting from zero.

I didn’t think we should lose that amount of time, particularly when we had somebody very capable and competent on board.”

Pretty cookie cutter stuff, except for one thing: “He or she.” Now, it’s entirely possible MacPahil, the “aw-shucks I can’t believe you hired me I’m just happy to be here” guy that he is, was just being P.C.. But it’s also possible that he’s keeping all options available, and would be open to hiring Major League Baseball’s first female GM. And he’d have some people to pick from.

As Philliedelphia points out, there have been three female assistant GMs in baseball: Elaine Weddington-Steward, Jean Afterman, and Kim Ng. Weddington-Steward currently serves as Vice President/Club Counsel for the Red Sox, Afterman is the Senior Vice President and Assistant General Manager for the Yankees, and Ng is the Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations for Major League Baseball. They’d all be candidates, most likely, but one stands out.

Kim Ng currently works for the league, but before that she’d held assistant GM roles with the Yankees and Dodgers, and was the first woman to interview for a GM position in MLB history. She interviewed for the GM position of the Dodgers, Mariners, Padres (twice), and Angels. She was one of four finalists for the Padres job in 2014. Between her time as assistant GM with the Yankees and Dogers, Ng reached the postseason eight times, the LCS six times, and won three World Championships.


And she’s interested. In a PBS Newshour piece from this April, Ng was asked about wanting to leave the league office and be a GM. “Seeing a woman general manager would be a great thing,” Ng said. “I think I have come close. So, hopefully, that’s still on the horizon for me or somebody else.”

So whether MacPhail was just being P.C., keeping his options open, or had someone in mind, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ng’s name started getting tossed around. Plus, if she got hired, I’m pretty sure everyone’s radio would just spontaneously-combust when flipped to WIP or 97.5.