Giants find their fall guy

No one is a happy about the Giants late-season collapse. And, it seems, someone has to take the blame. In baseball the manager usually gets the axe if the team under-performs and the Giants stuck to the script and fired Gabe Kapler. It’s tacky to cut the guy loose with a weekend of baseball left to play. Why not just wait until Monday morning? It’s a silly move in my mind. Kapler wasn’t whiffing with the bases loaded or booting the ball around the outfield. No, the players did that. And so what if there was some whining in the clubhouse? Players should be upset by their individual performances and should be upset about the team’s overall performance. Everyone had a hand in the team’s poor play. No one gets off the hook–are they going to turn over the roster as well? Or the rest of the coaching staff?

This tells me that Farhan Zaidi doesn’t value the manager all that much. It could be anyone, as long as it is one that works. I thought the 107-win 2021 season would buy Kap a little more goodwill but the sports world moves too fast for that stuff. “What have you done for me lately?” The Washington Nationals won the World Series in 2019 and have gone 204-306 (.400) since then, including a 107-loss season, and they just signed manager Dave Martinez to a two-year extension! Explain that.

Kapler was an unorthodox manager and had an unusual personal style. San Francisco seemed like a perfect fit. I had no problem with him. He’s weird, but it’s not an act. He is exactly who he presents himself to be. I thought he brought a lot of smarts and freshness to the role and I liked his hands-off style in the clubhouse. He expected players to show up and do their best, like professionals, and didn’t go for too much rah-rah or hand-holding. He was business-like and analytical and that perhaps was a bridge too far for a sport steeped in tradition. I suspect the big-money season-ticket holders squawked the loudest and the drop in attendance was a clear signal to the ownership that they needed to act.

I’m really not interested in another managerial search. I’d rather they have someone in mind already and we can be spared the speculation. After all, it apparently doesn’t matter that much, there are plenty of guys who can step in to the job. Just as long as they know they have a very short leash.

By the way Kai Correa is 0-1 in his managerial career.

–M.C.