Shockwave

Well, we didn't see that coming. The "Fire Kapler!"chorus that swelled on social media over the last month evidently reached a crescendo among those whom Farhan Zaidi and the Giants' ownership actually listen to, and so the move was made yesterday.  Susan Slusser of the Chronicle opines that the peculiar timing-- three games left to play on the road in a lost season-- may be intended to spare Gabe Kapler from endless speculation and combative press conferences over this weekend. Whatever. It's done.

Kapler can claim he kept a team in contention until the final two weeks while undergoing a rebuild, and there's some truth to that, and it's impressive in its own way. But his overall managerial track record in September, we must say, is not strong, and was the chief point of contention when he was hired. "They booed him out of Philly!" was the complaint. "They boo everybody in and out of Philly," seemed a fair response at the time.  But consider: in his two seasons at the helm of the Phillies, both teams blew potential playoff position down the stretch in a manner eerily similar to the Giants' big fade this year. In 2018 the Phils were 74-66 early in the month; they went 6-16 the rest of the way, losing 9 in a row in the final two weeks. The 2019 cave-in wasn't as dramatic, as the team was only three or four games above the waterline most of the year, but again they lost six in a row and 11 of 16 as the season closed out.

What makes this pill hard to swallow is, of course, 2021. It wasn't just that the Giants won a franchise-record 107 games and beat out what may have been the most powerful of the LA Dodgers' teams this decade. It was also the uncanny way Kapler won matchup after matchup in tight games-- his amazing success with pinch-hitters, the best in baseball, his ability to get the most out of journeyman relievers and to find the hot hand out of the bullpen. Of course he got MVP-quality seasons out of Brandon Crawford, Buster Posey, Brandon Belt (in 97 games), and Kevin Gausman, and fine seasons out of Evan Longoria, Kris Bryant (in a short stretch) and his remaining four starting pitchers. His trademark shuttling of players between multiple positions was evident that year, but limited to only a few spots (mostly in the outfield) because his starters were playing so well.

He had none of that this year. No solid rotation. No MVP-quality season by anyone. And a plethora of injuries. Just about everyone was asked to play multiple positions, especially in the infield, and many, especially the young players, were overmatched by that demand, with way too many errors in the field as a result. And day after day Kapler kept doing it, because it's what he does. When it works, he looks like a genius. When it doesn't...  well, he gets fired.

If there's a positive takeaway at the end, it's all the rookies and youngsters who got real action for the first time this year; we expect a few will become solid starters for whoever takes over in 2024.  

And that leads us to the next question. Not only who will Kapler's successor be, but, do the Giants already have a bead on him? There's talk that Bob Melvin and the San Diego GM don't see eye to eye, and despite their late surge the Padres rank among the most disappointing teams in baseball this year. 

Speculation for another day. We wish nothing but the best for Gabe Kapler going forward.