Jeff Passan of ESPN has reported that the San Francisco Giants have fired manager Gabe Kapler.
Gabe was formerly the manager of the Philadelphia Phillies, where he coached the club from 2018 through 2019.
In Kapler’s 2 seasons with the Phillies, he went 161-163 as the team’s skipper. The Phillies failed to make the post-season in both of his years in Philly, despite having great records heading into September.
Once the team moved off of Gabe, they hired Joe Girardi, who was then fired in 2022. Joe would be replaced by Rob Thomson, who is currently the team’s manager.
Gabe Kapler was the one who brought Rob Thomson to Philadephia and made him his bench coach in 2018.
Tenure in San Francisco
Gabe Kapler was picked right up by the San Francisco Giants after the conclusion of the 2019 season.
He replaced long-time manager Bruce Bochy with the Giants, who left huge shoes to fill.
The 2020 season was the COVID year where everything was out of sorts with Major League Baseball. Gabe went 29-31 that season and missed the playoffs.
The following year, however, it felt like he had finally made it as a big-league manager.
San Francisco won 107 games and the National League West, which has been dominated by the Los Angeles Dodgers for the past decade. He was named NL Manager of the Year.
Gabe’s Giants would lose to those same Dodgers in the National League Divisional Series.
Since then, things have been spiraling for the Bay area team, as they finished 81-81 in 2022, missing the playoffs.
This season, the Giants will again miss out on the playoffs, after holding the top Wild Card heading into August. This late-season collapse can be blamed on many things, but ultimately, it feels like it has become a staple in a Gabe Kapler lead team.
The Giants fired him before Friday night’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
End of the Line?
I do think Gabe Kapler will get another shot as a manager in the Big Leagues.
The Giants were not a team full of a lot of star power and I think Gabe actually did a good job with what he was given.
He is obviously an acquired taste, as Philadelphia learned very quickly, but I do think he embodies what the game of baseball is transitioning toward.
We shall see if Gabe Kapler returns to Major League Baseball in another capacity in the near future. The Cleveland Guardians will have an opening for their manager this off-season, so keep an eye out for that one.
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