For Marlins’ Kim Ng, ‘anticipation’ is biggest challenge with MLB lockout uncertainty
Kim Ng addressed the question with a caveat.
Major League Baseball’s lockout is entering its third month and no end definitively in sight. Ng and the rest of her staff is unable to communicate with any players on their 40-man roster during this time
Is there any concern on her part not knowing the status of their workout plans, their conditioning, their day-to-day developments that would normally take place under their supervision?
“In general,” the Marlins’ general manager said, “it’s my job to be concerned. It just depends on about what.”
Right now, the concern is the uncertainty about when the lockout will end — which will require MLB and the MLB Players’ Association coming to terms with a new collective bargaining agreement. The two sides are still far apart, and the players on Friday rejected the league’s request to use a mediator.
“The clearest path to a fair and timely agreement is to get back to the table,” the MLBPA said in a statement. “Players stand ready to negotiate.”
As a reminder: Spring training is supposed to start in less than two weeks, and Opening Day is March 31. The former is all but guaranteed to be delayed at this point. The latter could be in jeopardy as well if negotiations continue to drag out.
What’s the toughest part for Ng?
“I think just anticipation and waiting,” Ng said Friday. “For those of us that seem patient but are really not, it’s really hard.”
In the meantime, Ng and the Marlins are focusing on the group they can work with. Their top prospects not on the 40-man roster are at the club’s spring training complex at Jupiter’s Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.
Ng and members of the Marlins’ player development staff — including vice president of player development and scouting Gary Denbo, director of player development Geoff DeGroot and director of minor-league operations Hector Crespo — spend their days on the back fields watching players they hope will help the big-league club in the not-so-distant future. Members of the big-league coaching staff, including bench coach James Rowson and catching coach Eddy Rodriguez, have also been on site at times.
Regardless of what happens with MLB and the collective bargaining agreement, the Triple A season is set to start April 5, while the other three full-season affiliates start April 8.
“It’s been great getting out here,” Ng said. “Their first game was [Thursday]. The better [prospects] have been out there for a bit now. You get to see those prospects and how they’ve risen now with some of our really good ones going to be in Triple A. Knowing that they’re probably right around the corner and laying eyes on them is really assuring.”
More Triple A games
Minor League Baseball announced Thursday that the Triple A season will now be 150 games and run through Sept. 28.
The schedule is the longest for a minor league team since 1964, when the International League scheduled 154 games and the Pacific Coast League 156.
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