Diamondbacks considering 5 candidates for GM job including Kim Ng

After cleaning house, the Diamondbacks are considering who will replace the recently vacated seat of Dave Stewart. Among the top candidates are Kim Ng, two internal candidates in Bryan Minniti and Mike Bell, and two previous Diamondbacks executive in Peter Woodfork and Ray Montgomery according to a report from Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe.

The list of candidates isn’t an especially inspiring list for Diamondbacks fans. With the ousting of not only Stewart and Chip Hale, but President of Baseball Operations Tony La Russa, the desire for many fans is likely a new direction. Promoting an internal candidate like Minniti, Bell, or Montgomery might come off—at least optically—as maintaining a similar direction. Perhaps that’s an unfair assessment, however, so long as Ken Kendrick is the owner of the team and chooses to involve himself in front office business, the direction of the team may not change.

The most interesting candidate then appears to be Ng. The 47-year old is currently working for MLB as the Senior-Vice President for Baseball Operations. Since 2005, she has been interviewed for the general manager position for the Dodgers, Mariners, Padres, and Angels. She has been a full-time employee in baseball for the past 25 years.

Minniti is currently seated as the assistant GM of the Diamondbacks. He was hired nearly two years ago to the day after spending five seasons with the Nationals organization where he was also the assistant GM. He has roughly a decade less experience in baseball than Ng, but would be a familiar option.

Meanwhile, Bell is currently the Director of Player Development after starting in the Diamondbacks organization as a coach for the minor league affiliate Yakima Bears back in 2007. While Bell would be an internal candidate, player development hasn’t really been what has hampered their on-field performance.

Montgomery would be technically an external addition, but served as the Diamondbacks’ scouting director from 2010-2014. He is currently the scouting director for the Brewers, where, under new GM David Stearns, has needed to be very active. Perhaps Montgomery’s ability to move around between organizations shows a willingness to not only learn different perspectives, but to also build strong working relationships. Montgomery has gone from the Brewers, to the Diamondbacks, back to the Brewers over his professional executive career since 1997.

Lastly, Woodfork is currently seated as the Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations for MLB and is in charge of overseeing umpiring and instant replay for the league. Prior to accepting that position in 2011, Woodfork served as the Diamondbacks’ assistant GM for five seasons. Those were slightly better times for the organization, and Woodfork completely avoids association with Stewart and La Russa, which certainly can’t hurt his already impressive resumé.

Over the next few weeks and this specific hire, the Diamondbacks organization will likely set new tones of how far they want to deviate from previous directions. For many Diamondbacks fans, maintaining status quo will not do and the further from it, the better.