Kim Ng controversy reveals former beloved Yankees coach was 'horror show' in Miami

While it was initially announced that GM Kim Ng and the Miami Marlins had "parted ways" ahead of the 2024 season, that level of sugar-coating would be appropriate at the Cake Boss' place.

Ng was undermined throughout the season and early offseason after building a rarity at the MLB level: a Marlins playoff team. Team owner Bruce Sherman reportedly asked Ng if she would accept someone being hired and elevated over her -- again, after she acquired Luis Arraez, Jake Burger and Josh Bell, all while reversing the team's spooked culture in one-run games. Ng declined in fury, Miami flipped her a one-year "mutual" pact as a parting gift, she declined that as well, and the rest is history.

What's next for the objectively successful executive? As a former Yankees assistant GM under Brian Cashman ... it sure would be nice if ... she wanted to ... you know ... but that'll never happen. The Red Sox job is open and she'll probably go there, at which point we'll begrudgingly add her name to our Burn Book.

Even if the Yankees don't scoop her up after all this chaos, they still managed to catch a few strays in the resulting fallout. According to Jon Heyman's research, it was the Marlins analytics team that led the coup against Ng. Sound familiar? That group was hired by a former Yankee: Gary Denbo, who wasn't exactly beloved during his tenure in South Beach.

Former Yankees hitting coach Gary Denbo was, uh, not beloved with Marlins

According to Heyman, the people in the Marlins' analytics department pushed against Ng, didn't approve the acquisition of Luis Arraez, and weren't fans of Pablo López before dealing him, either. That camp came from Denbo's days as the team's Director of Player Development and Scouting.

Denbo the Director appears to have had a very odd, corrupted tenure in comparison the Denbo the Hitting Coach in the Bronx.

"Those folks were hired by long-deposed honcho Gary Denbo, seen as a 'horror show' of a boss, a Marlins person said in a widely held opinion, bizarrely transitioning from kindly Yankees hitting coach. Organization sources say his guys also compounded their bad draft picks by overemphasizing launch angle, and the irony is Denbo was the hitting coach of former Marlins CEO Derek Jeter, one of the best contact hitters ever, before embracing launch angle."

Jon Heyman

Denbo also received a "parting of the ways" in Miami in June 2022 -- and a midseason "parting of the ways" hits differently. Before his run as an executive, he belonged to the Yankees organization from 1990-2001, then again from 2006-2007 ... then again from 2009-2017. He was the hitting coordinator for the entire organization from 1997-2000 (formative years!), then the big-league hitting coach in 2001.

Ng was also in the building, at that point. And now, the question on everybody's lips: Which late-90s loose end do the Yankees tie up first?