Report: SF Giants interview bench coach Kai Correa for manager job

As the SF Giants continued their managerial search, they interviewed bench coach/interim manager Kai Correa for the opening.

The SF Giants have interviewed interim manager Kai Correa in the team's search for the team's next manager, according to a report by FanSided's MLB insider Robert Murray. Correa was the Giants bench coach for the entirety of recently-fired manager Gabe Kapler's tenure before he stepped in for Kapler after he was let go in the final week of the 2023 season. Correa is the second internal candidate to interview for the job. It was reported earlier this week that third-base coach Mark Hallberg also received an interview.

Kai Correa has interviewed for the San Francisco Giants’ managerial opening, according to sources familiar with the situation. Correa, 35, has been the Giants’ bench coach since 2020 and was the team’s interim manager after Gabe Kapler was fired.

— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) October 15, 2023

Correa has quickly risen through the coaching ranks, in large part because of Kapler's decision to hire him as his top assistant coach. Correa played college baseball at the University of Puget Sound, where he was one of the team's top infielders. Upon graduating, he immediately joined the team's coaching staff for three seasons before he joined Northern Colorado's staff.

After four years at Northern Colorado, Correa joined the Cleveland Guardians organization in 2018. He worked as a Rookie League infield coach and short-season defensive coordinator prior to joining the Giants' staff. Still only 35, Correa would be the youngest manager in the league. He would also became the first person born in Hawaii or of Native Hawaiian descent to be a full-time manager.

Correa has interviewed for other managierial positions during his tenure with the Giants, and he immediately became one of the top candidates for the open position. However, it seems unlikely that the Giants would hire an internal candidate given the team's recent struggles. The Giants seemingly scapegoated Kapler by moving on and retaining the majority of his coaching staff would further signal that the franchise believes he was solely responsible for the team's underperformance.

The SF Giants could lean toward an internal candidate for a different reason, though. President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, who has a longstanding relationship with Kapler, is entering the final year of his contract and will likely be let go next year if the Giants are unable to rebound. That uncertainty could make ownership hesitant to commit a guaranteed multi-year contract to a new manager since a new president of baseball operations would likely want to do a search of their own. So, rather than pursuing the best available options, they may be more open to an internal candidate willing to take a one-year deal.