San Francisco Giants: Hiring Gabe Kapler would be a mistake
By Justin Fried
The San Francisco Giants are reportedly interested in hiring Gabe Kapler to be the team’s next manager. However, that would be a mistake for the organization.
The San Francisco Giants have had the luxury of being managed by one of the greats of all-time for the past 13 seasons in Bruce Bochy. But upon Bochy’s retirement, could former Philadelphia Phillies manager Gabe Kapler be his successor?
Bochy enjoyed a fruitful career with the Giants first joining the team back in 2007 after 12 seasons coaching with the San Diego Padres. The 64-year-old helped lead the team to three World Series titles as part of the great Giants dynasty of the 2010s.
But it was time for a change and that change started upon the hiring of former Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi to be the team’s new president of baseball operations.
Basically just a fancy title for the top decision-maker in the front office.
Zaidi’s arrival placed a new focus on analytics which was a sudden change for an organization that had been old-school for quite some time. And with Zaidi’s hire, the writing was on the wall for Bochy’s departure.
Now, the Giants are set to enter a new era led by Zaidi, a new general manager, and a brand new manager leading the charge. But who might that manager be?
While it’s still early, former Phillies manager Gabe Kapler appears to be at the forefront of that list. To say that hiring Kapler would be a bit underwhelming would be an understatement, but it’s certainly not a move that would be out of left field.
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Kapler and Zaidi have history together as while the latter was general manager of the Dodgers, the former served as the organization’s director of player development. And during that time, Zaidi grew particularly fond of Kapler.
In fact, it was a glowing recommendation from Zaidi himself that may have landed Kapler his job with the Phillies. Unfortunately, Kapler’s time in Philadelphia would be brief as after a disappointing 161-163 record over two seasons, he was relieved of his duties earlier this month.
Not all of Philadelphia’s struggles last season should be blamed on Kapler. The Phillies were decimated by injuries and the team lacked the necessary depth to make up for their losses.
However, his handling of the pitching staff has been widely criticized. Kapler’s decision to rely on analytics and bring in former big-league pitcher Chris Young wasn’t exactly met with universal praise.
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In many ways, Kapler’s by-the-books analytical approach alienated his pitching staff and they grew upset at Kapler and Young’s approach.
Kapler was criticized for relying too heavily on analytics and detractors felt that he didn’t have a handle on the locker room — despite the support of both Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto.
And for a Giants organization already headed by an analytics-driven Zaidi and a general manager who will likely share a similar vision, it would be nice to hire a manager who at least isn’t as analytical as Kapler.
This doesn’t mean that he has to be on the Bochy end of the spectrum — that just isn’t realistic in today’s MLB — but perhaps one with less of a focus than Kapler would be ideal.
Either way, hiring a retread like Gabe Kapler who just failed miserably in two seasons with Philadelphia certainly wouldn’t be the most exciting hire. Maybe not as poor of a choice as someone like Bob Geren, but a disappointing hire nonetheless.
Next. San Francisco Giants: Top 7 candidates to replace Bruce Bochy. dark
There’s still time, but early speculations about the Giants’ managerial search don’t seem too encouraging.