The team Kim Ng built: How MLB’s first female general manager assembled Marlins’ playoff team

As the Miami Marlins celebrated in the visitor’s clubhouse at PNC Park on Saturday night after clinching a spot in the playoffs, the team’s architect found herself to be a primary target.

Seemingly any time general manager Kim Ng tried to take a step around the room, she was greeted by a player or coach or executive primed with a full bottle of beer that would be poured over her head.

More often than not, though, it seemed like it was closer Tanner Scott doing the pouring.

“Tanner is just relentless,” Ng said amid the celebration. “That’s why I [expletive] love him.”

Ng is the reason Scott is with the Marlins. She acquired him as part of a trade with the Baltimore Orioles for a pair of lower-tier prospects days before the start of the 2022 season. During the past two years, he has since evolved into one of MLB’s top relief pitchers.

But it’s not just Scott. This is a team that has been built in large part by Ng, MLB’s first female general manager.

Nearly a dozen trades, savvy minor-league deals and key additions via free agency have led to the creation of this Marlins team that is back in the postseason for the first time in a full season since winning the World Series in 2003.

It took three years for Ng, who is in the final year of her contract, to get the Marlins to this point. Ng knew there would be heightened expectations placed on her to get things done. She was the one who broke the glass ceiling, the one paving the way for the next generation of women hoping to be in her role someday.

That’s not lost on her as the Marlins begin their playoff push.

“Failure is not an option,” Ng said. “That has really come full circle, and that’s where it needed to get to.”

‘One block at a time’

When Luis Arraez got the phone call on Jan. 20, the message on the other end of the line was clear.

“Hey, we traded for you because we trust you,” he remembers Ng telling him.

Ng had spent her first two seasons balancing two opposing-yet-complementary tasks. She was trying to field a competitive roster but also had to prioritize improving the organization’s depth as a whole.

This year was the time to pounce.

And acquiring Arraez, an All-Star infielder and the reigning American League batting champion a year earlier with the Minnesota Twins, was perhaps the biggest signal to the baseball world at large that Ng was putting the Marlins in a position to compete in 2023.

But to Ng, it wasn’t one particular move when everything appeared to click. Every move she made was calculated, methodical, thought out. That’s how she has always been. She played the long game to assemble the roster to her liking.

“It’s always been just building blocks,” Ng said. “It takes one block at a time. You’re never sure when it’s all going to come together.”

She swung big at times and, for the most part, trades executed under her watch have paid off.

Consider the fact that 12 players on their active roster were acquired over a span of three years worth of trades.

Breaking down the deals Kim Ng has made

In 2021, her first year with Miami, she made two deals at the trade deadline, getting left-handed pitcher Jesus Luzardo from the Athletics for Starling Marte and outfielder Bryan De La Cruz from the Astros for reliever Yimi Garcia — two young, projectable players for a pair of veterans on expiring contracts for young players with top potential.

Luzardo is starting Game 1 of the wild card series for the Marlins and has stepped up to be arguably the team’s top pitcher down the stretch after Sandy Alcantara’s season-ending UCL sprain.

De La Cruz has been a fixture in Miami’s lineup this season, setting career highs in home runs (19), RBI (78), doubles (32) and runs scored (61).

Three more trades came ahead of the 2022 season.

Miami sent outfielder prospect Kameron Misner to the Rays for infielder Joey Wendle, who was a utility player in 2022 and the starting shortstop to open this season. They got catcher Jacob Stallings from the Pirates for pitcher Zach Thompson and a pair of prospects (Kyle Nicolas and Connor Scott). And then Miami acquired Tanner Scott (along with reliever Cole Sulser, who was with the team for 2022) in the final days before spring training from Baltimore.

Of the prospects traded for those three mainstays, only Nicolas has appeared in the big leagues so far.

“She’s great at what she does,” Scott said. “Look what she did. It’s awesome. She brought me in, she brought a lot of guys in, and it’s awesome to see that happen.”

And then came the big deals this year.

Arraez was the headliner, but the Marlins swung other deals over the offseason that got relievers A.J. Puk, JT Chargois and Matt Barnes along with utility player Xavier Edwards and shortstop prospect Jacob Amaya.

From there, add in the free agent signings — namely Jorge Soler and Yuli Gurriel, but also players who joined the team on minor-league deals like Steven Okert, Huascar Brazoban and Garrett Hampson.

Then bring in the core of budding talent that was in place beforehand in Alcantara, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Jon Berti and Jesus Sanchez, among others.

The result: Miami fielded a team that exceeded expectations and had the Marlins buying at the trade deadline.

The Marlins swung five trades leading up to Aug. 1, three of which have led to instant results as Miami chased the playoffs: Acquiring Josh Bell from the Guardians, Jake Burger from the White Sox and David Robertson from the Mets.

“I trust her with every decision she’s made as far as acquiring players,” first-year Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “Her staff has been amazing to help us do this.”

Added principal owner Bruce Sherman: “Kim’s been fabulous. Not easy being in her role at all. Can you imagine that? First female GM in all of baseball history. Unbelievable. And all the moves, all the trade moves, have been excellent.”

A playoff berth has resulted from it. The players in the clubhouse don’t take Ng’s role in making it happen for granted.

That was apparent in the clubhouse on Saturday.

“That’s Mama Kim right there,” Chisholm said. “She’s been doing the right things, making the right moves every year. This year just shows what she can do. I hope she stays with us and hope we get more in the future.”