Sometimes, the proverbial glass ceiling takes a physical form.



On this mid-December afternoon at the Winter Meetings in Las Vegas, the metaphor took the shape of a wooden door connected to a Mandalay Bay conference room.



On one side, a hallway bustling with bright TV lights pointed at current MLB executives, agents and general managers, who were fielding probes about offseason priorities.



On the other side, seated at an empty purple-clothed table — with full table settings put out for a different meeting of the minds — was Kim Ng, just a couple of months removed from two unsuccessful interviews for top baseball operations positions.



Ng interviewed for the Giants’ president of baseball operations gig, as well as for the open New York Mets general manager position. The latter went to former agent Brodie Van Wagenen, who’s made several decisive moves since he took the Mets’ reins this offseason. The former to...