Gabe Kapler has been fired as manager of the San Francisco Giants.
The San Francisco Chronicle‘s Susan Slusser was first to report the news, which was later confirmed by the Giants in a statement from president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi.
“After making this recommendation to ownership and receiving their approval, I met with Gabe today to inform him of our decision. In his tenure as Giants manager, Gabe led our team through an unprecedented pandemic in 2020 and a franchise-record 107 wins and postseason berth in 2021. He has been dedicated and passionate in his efforts to improve the on-field performance of the San Francisco Giants and I have tremendous respect for him as a colleague and friend.”
“On behalf of the Giants organization, we wish Gabe the best of luck in his future endeavors and thank him for his contributions over the last four years,” Zaidi added.
Here’s the statement from Farhan Zaidi. Gabe Kapler is out with a year left on his contract: pic.twitter.com/tOHDoPfo99
— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) September 29, 2023
This comes on the tail end of a season where the team is fourth in the National League West (78-81) and some interesting recent comments from Zaidi.
On Wednesday, Zaidi said on KNBR’s Tolbert & Copes show that ownership and the front office had to take a look at their plans heading into the offseason.
“Right now, our focus is kind of getting through these last three games, finishing strong, finishing .500,” Zaidi said. “I think we all just have to look at, you know, how we can improve across the board. That’s the personnel on the roster, that’s our culture in the clubhouse. Which, again, when you’re playing well, certain things culturally are portrayed as, ‘Hey, this team loves being together, they’re having fun.’ But when you’re not doing well, those things can be seen in a negative light. I think we just have to look at everything …”
Zaidi also has said previously the last two seasons, the Giants haven’t met the standards previously set forth for the organization.
Last season, the team finished 81-81, and third in the NL West.
Kapler was hired in November 2019 ahead of the 2020 COVID season. He finished his Giants tenure with a 295-248 record across four seasons.
The MLB world had mixed thoughts on the Giants’ decision.
The Giants announced that they have fired manager Gabe Kapler. This is the first time the organization has relieved a manager of duties since they replaced Jim Davenport with Roger Craig with 18 games remaining in the 1985 season.
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) September 29, 2023
Why did Zaidi survive not Kap? I have no clue. Nor does anyone else w/o great inside sources. But I do know that 1) #SFGiants need to be hyper-aggressive in the trade and FA markets, 2) finding a BOPSprez can be a long, uncertain process and 3) 1 and 2 usually are incompatible.
— Henry Schulman BLUE CHECK MARK (@hankschulman) September 29, 2023
Couldn’t wait three days, huh https://t.co/6Kw0RZdJ3J
— D.J. Short (@djshort) September 29, 2023
All of the strategies Kapler and the Giants employed have been done successfully before. Maybe the difference is that they were done with younger, less established rosters before. Doing this stuff with veterans is another level of stress on connection between manager & players.
— Eno Sarris (@enosarris) September 29, 2023
