Giants fire manager Gabe Kapler before Dodgers series
San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler walks to the dugout after making a pitching change during the eighth inning of his team’s baseball game against the New York Mets in San Francisco, Monday, May 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)Jeff Chiu/Associated Press
2023.09.29 – The San Francisco Giants fired manager Gabe Kapler on Friday with three days left to play against the Los Angeles Dodgers in a season when the team has been eliminated from the playoffs for a second year in a row.
The Giants were still in the playoff chase earlier this month and squandered crucial opportunities and games, President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi concluded that it was time to move on from manager Kapler.
“As a group, as a team, we played our worst baseball when it mattered the most,” Zaidi said.
Zaidi made his recommendation to ownership while taking his share of responsibility for the team’s shortcomings. His own future is unclear with one year remaining on his contract.
“To go out on that last road trip still in the wild card, still controlling our own destiny and then playing the way we did when we controlled our own destiny, those are hard to watch for everybody,” Zaidi said. “It was hard for the players to go through, it was hard for fans to watch, it was hard for us as an organization to watch. That sort of really accelerated our view that we need to make difficult decisions and think about things differently.”
Kapler left Oracle park by mid-afternoon Friday. Reached by text, he did not address his tenure with the Giants.
Kapler’s firing was the first managerial change of 2023. Bench coach Kai Correa was set to manage the Giants in an interim role for the final three games.
The Giants are 78-81 going into a season-ending series against the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
2023.09.29 (SF Giants vs. LA Dodgers) See Full Highlights
Manager Gabe Kapler chats with media during practice at the San Francisco Giants spring training facility Scottsdale Stadium in Scottsdale, Ariz. on Thursday, March 2, 2023.Ash Ponders/Special to The Chronicle
2023.09.29 (SF Giants vs. LA Dodgers) See Full Highlights
2023.09.29 (SF Giants vs. LA Dodgers) See Full Highlights
“This is just what happens when you lose baseball games,” outfielder Austin Slater said. “We severely under-performed the last month and a half, two months, honestly probably since the All-Star break. It’s a combination of sloppy baseball, poor offense, our pitching that we were riding for most of the year, it started to show some holes. So all around, there’s not one point on the team or one person or one group to blame. It was just an overall, just bad baseball.”
The 48-year-old Kapler had a 295-248 record over four seasons guiding the Giants, but his only year with a winning record was 2021, when San Francisco won a franchise-record 107 games and the NL West title — one game ahead of the 106-win Dodgers.
San Francisco lost in the NL Division series that year in five games to Los Angeles, then regressed to 81-81 last year.
Kapler’s first season with San Francisco was the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. He managed the Philadelphia Phillies for two years before that, going 161-163.
In San Francisco, he followed three veteran managers in Dusty Baker, Felipe Alou and Bruce Bochy. The Giants won World Series championships under Bochy in 2010, 2012 and 2014.
The Giants will strive to find a manager before the start of free agency. Zaidi didn’t rule out an internal candidate being considered as Kapler’s replacement.
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“I don’t think we did the best job for him,” right-hander Logan Webb said. “As a team we haven’t been very good these last two years. … There needs to be a standard set of how we play baseball here.”
2023.09.29 – SF Giants vs. LA Dodgers (NBC Sports – Pre Recap)
San Francisco Giants’ Buster Posey is interviewed before Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony in San Francisco on Thursday, May 25, 2023.Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle
2023.09.29 – SF Giants vs. LA Dodgers (NBC Sports – Pre Recap)
2023.09.29 – SF Giants vs. LA Dodgers (NBC Sports – Pre Recap)
Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman made history by hitting his 59th double of the season. He then scored on a three-run homer by J.D. Martinez, lifting NL West champion Los Angeles past San Francisco 6-2 on Friday night.
Freeman doubled with one out in the sixth inning, matching Todd Helton in 2000 for the most doubles in a season in the majors since 1936 and the seventh-most all-time. Will Smith was hit by a pitch before Martinez delivered his 33rd home run, chasing Giants right-hander Keaton Winn (1-3).
Smith hit a two-run homer in the first, and Freeman went deep in the third.
Lance Lynn (13-11) allowed two runs on two hits, struck out four and walked four over six innings to win his third straight decision after he didn’t factor into a 10-inning win against the Giants his last time out on Sunday at Dodger Stadium.
The Giants (78-82) — who will finish with a losing record after going 81-81 last year — need two wins this weekend to win the season series for the first time since taking 10 of 19 in 2021. Los Angeles has won four of the last five in the rivalry.
San Francisco has been limited to two runs or fewer in now six straight games and dropped to 8-18 in September — worst in the National League and tied for last in baseball for the month.
Winn was activated before the game to make his fifth career start and first since Sept. 16 at Colorado. He had been on the COVID-19 injured list since Sept. 19.
2023.09.29 – Giants vs. Dodgers (Bruce & Krueger – post game)
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman celebrates after hitting a double during the sixth inning against the San Francisco Giants on Friday at Oracle Park. Stephen Lam/The Chronicle
2023.09.29 – Giants vs. Dodgers (Bruce & Krueger – post game)
2023.09.29 – Giants vs. Dodgers (Bruce & Krueger – post game)
Giants’ Wilmer Flores homered and hit an RBI single, who were managed by bench coach Kai Correa. San Francisco fired manager Kapler earlier in the day, three games before the end of his fourth season.
PAYING TRIBUTE
The Giants honored the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein — a California Democrat who was also San Francisco’s first female mayor — with a moment of silence. Feinstein died Thursday night at age 90.
WILLIE MAC AWARD
San Francisco second baseman Thairo Estrada received the 2023 Willie Mac Award, named for the late Hall of Famer Willie McCovey, in a pregame ceremony.
The honor is voted on by players, coaches and training staff to recognize the Giants player who most exemplifies McCovey’s inspirational ways on the field and in the clubhouse.
ROSTER MOVES
The Giants recalled INF Casey Schmitt from Triple-A Sacramento and optioned C Joey Bart to Sacramento. RHP Luke Jackson was reinstated from the paternity list.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Dodgers: X-rays on SS Miguel Rojas’ left hand were negative after he got hit by a pitch in the seventh and he won’t play Saturday, when he will have a CT scan to rule out any serious damage — but he was optimistic all was fine. “I feel like especially at this part of the season when you get hit by a pitch like that you’ve got to be careful, knowing what we have ahead of us,” Rojas said. … 1B Max Muncy had the night off to rest as a precaution to keep him fresh. Roberts would like to see Los Angeles (99-61) reach 100 wins this weekend but not at the risk of anyone’s health ahead of the playoffs. “I think we’ve put ourselves in position to do that, I think it’s worth something, in the sense of not to compromise health of any player,” Roberts said.
Giants: 3B J.D. Davis was placed on the 10-day injured list with a strained left shoulder he hurt on a slide in the first inning of Tuesday’s game. … LHP Kyle Harrison, who was scratched from his scheduled start Tuesday due to illness, is set to pitch Sunday’s season finale. … OF Mitch Haniger was placed on the 10-day IL with a low back strain retroactive to Tuesday.
UP NEXT
Dodgers LHP Clayton Kershaw (13-4, 2.42 ERA) pitches Saturday night in his final regular-season start, looking to improve on his 26-15 career record vs. San Francisco — and the 1.99 ERA that’s his lowest against any opponent with a minimum of 30 starts. RHP Tristan Beck (3-3, 4.05) takes the mound for San Francisco.
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