Ng gets second interview for Padres GM opening

SAN DIEGO -- The Padres had their second interview Thursday with Kim Ng, senior vice president of baseball operations with Major League Baseball, for their general manager vacancy.

Ng had her first interview with the team on July 11.

Earlier this week, the team had second interviews with Rangers assistant general manager A.J. Preller, Red Sox assistant general manager Mike Hazen and, on Wednesday, Yankees assistant general manager Billy Eppler.

The team is going through its last round of interviews with four finalists before deciding on a successor for Josh Byrnes, who was dismissed on June 22.

Team executive chairman Ron Fowler and CEO and team president Mike Dee will likely huddle to pick a successor for Byrnes. Fowler said recently that he hopes to have a general manager hired by early August.

Ng would become the first female general manager of any major professional sport.

Ng broke into professional baseball with the White Sox in 1991 and later joined the Yankees, where she became the assistant general manager in 1997. She held the same role with the Dodgers, beginning in 2001.

Ng previously interviewed for general manager openings with the Dodgers, Angels and Mariners, as well as the Padres in 2009, when the job that went to Jed Hoyer. Ng left the Dodgers in 2011 for her current post with Major League Baseball.

A total of eight candidates had initial interviews -- former Marlins general manager Larry Beinfest, Dodgers vice president of amateur scouting Logan White, D-backs scouting director Ray Montgomery, Eppler, Preller, Hazen, Padres assistant general manager Josh Stein and Ng.

Six candidates declined to be interviewed, the latest being current Padres assistant general manager A.J. Hinch, who is presiding over the day-to-day operations of the big league team.

Five others declined interviews: David Forst of the A's, Mike Chernoff of the Indians, Jason McLeod of the Cubs, Michael Girsch of the Cardinals and Padres senior vice president of baseball operations, Omar Minaya.

Forst, Chernoff and Girsch are assistant general managers. McLeod, who previously worked for the Padres, is the Cubs' scouting director.