SF Giants fire manager Gabe Kapler before final series

The SF Giants announced prior to Friday’s game that manager Gabe Kapler has been fired after nearly four seasons.

Steven Rissotto | Sep 29, 2023

SF Giants fire manager Gabe Kapler before final series /

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San Francisco Giants

The SF Giants have relieved manager Gabe Kapler of his duties before the final series of the season, the team announced on Friday afternoon. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle was the first to report the news.

SF Giants manager Gabe Kapler answers questions from the media in the dugout prior to a game against the Houston Astros. (2023) — The SF Giants fired Gabe Kapler after four seasons managing in San Francisco / Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports

Kapler’s dismissal marks the end of a rollercoaster four-year tenure that featured everything from a franchise-best 107-win campaign in 2021 –– which earned him National League Manager of the Year honors –– paired with straight consecutive disappointing seasons near the .500 mark.

The Giants haven’t fired a manager since Jim Davenport was canned in favor of Roger Craig with 18 games remaining in the 1985 season.

Bench coach Kai Correa has been named the interim manager for the final three games against the Los Angeles Dodgers starting Friday night.

“After making this recommendation to ownership and receiving their approval, I met with Gabe today to inform him of our decision," said Giants President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi in a statement. "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."

Zaidi –– who met with the media at 3:30 p.m. on Friday –– wished Kapler the best of luck on his future endeavors.

"I don’t have one negative thing to say about Gabe Kapler," Zaidi said during his news conference. "We reached some really high highs during his tenure here … we’re looking for new and different leadership in our clubhouse, a different dynamic there.”

According to Slusser, there was a “growing chorus” of criticism that became too much of a distraction, leading to little reason to let Kapler continue to answer questions regarding the recent rumors.

Kapler, 48, was hired by the Giants after the 2019 season to replace Bruce Bochy, who had stepped down for a brief hiatus. In four seasons with the Giants, Kapler finished with a 295-248 record.

Published Sep 29, 2023

STEVEN RISSOTTO

Steven Rissotto (he/him) is an award-winning journalist who currently covers the San Francisco Giants for SFBay.ca and Giants Baseball Insider. At 19-years-old in 2021, he joined SF Bay Media as the Giants beat writer, covering games a few times a week during the Giants’ record-setting 107-win season. Along with his game story coverage he is also the host of RizzoCast, a baseball podcast he founded in 2020 that features interviews with professional and amateur baseball players, coaches, media, fans, and everyone else around the game. Past guests have included Tyler Glasnow, Bob Kendrick, Shawn Estes, Bill Laskey, Renel Brooks Moon, Dave Dravecky, Ned Colletti, Denard Span, Ron Wotus, Joe Maddon, J.T. Snow and more. He is also a co-host with Tylor Hall on the Shutdown Inning Podcast, a show focused on all the latest happenings around the baseball world. Both podcasts are available on YouTube and everywhere podcasts are found. Currently, he is a student at San Francisco State University where he is majoring in Journalism with an emphasis in print/online and minoring in education. At SF State, he is the managing editor for Golden Gate Xpress, the student-run newspaper. He was formerly a member of the newspaper at Skyline College, where he served as editor-in-chief and news editor while also writing sports and features. He was formerly a student-journalist at Archbishop Riordan High School in San Francisco, where he pitched for the baseball team and covered some of the biggest stories in campus history. This includes a new multi-sports facility on campus, the breaking news coverage of Riordan’s coed announcement and the COVID-19 pandemic. Steven is well-respected by his peers and has been honored numerous times by Student Newspapers Online, JEA, ACP, and the California Publishing Association. In 2021, he finished second in the country for Reporter of the Year for ACP among the two-year college schools.