The Marlins have reached an agreement to hire former Phillies and Giants manager Gabe Kapler as an assistant general manager under new president of baseball operations Peter Bendix, reports Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald. San Francisco dismissed Kapler following the 2023 season, hiring future Hall of Famer Bob Melvin in his place. Mish adds that Kapler has been looking for a new challenge in baseball operations since being let go by the Giants and was also in the running to become the Red Sox’ head of baseball operations before they ultimately hired another former big leaguer, Craig Breslow.
This won’t be the first foray into baseball operations for Kapler, who served as the Dodgers’ farm director prior to being named manager of the Phillies. He’s spent the past six seasons as a manager, compiling a 456-411 record between San Francisco (2020-23) and Philadelphia (2018-19) and won NL Manager of the Year honors in 2021. He’ll now return to the other side of the game, with a primary focus on player development within the Marlins’ system, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Marlins don’t have a general manager, with the aforementioned Bendix holding the title of president and heading up baseball ops. But Kapler will join Oz Ocampo, Brian Chattin and Daniel Greenlee as the team’s fourth executive to hold the title of assistant GM.
It’s not the only recent baseball ops hire made by Bendix, who replaced GM Kim Ng after she declined her end of a 2024 mutual option (reportedly because ownership wanted to hire a president of baseball ops to overtake her on the front office hierarchy). Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reported earlier this week that Miami hired now-former Rangers assistant director of baseball operations Vinesh Kanthan as their new director of baseball operations.
Changes in the Miami front office figure to continue over the next year, as it’s common for newly hired baseball operations executives to bring in their own team — at times at the expense of holdovers within the department. Bendix and his staff will look to build on the success of the 2023 club, which reached the playoffs for the first time (in 162-game season) since the organization’s 2003 World Series-winning season.
Perplexing.
How? Did you not read the article?
Kim Ng did a stellar job and now they bring this yoyo in. That is perplexing.
Yeah, Kim Ng did a “stellar job” at making Miami’s player development one of the worst in the league. She did so well, in fact, that she’s still out of a front office job
Kapler was the fall guy for Farhan. Kap did a good job given the roster he had to deal with and will be an asset to the Fish.
@The Natural
FYI – Kim Ng was the GM from the 2020-21 offseason through this offseason. She was not the GM only for the 2022 trade deadline. “Stellar” is not the term anyone that paid attention and knows what they’re talking about will use to describe Ng’s performance as Marlins GM.
Did she do better than Mike Hill? Yes, but that isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement because a donut could’ve done better than him.
Not a Giants fan, but I always thought Kapler was fine as a manager. Most IQ move that pretty much all baseball fans do is scapegoat the manager or coaches when a team underperforms. Unless they’re really bad, managers really don’t have as much of an effect as people seem to think
Kapler lost the clubhouse. Once the manager does that it’s over. Kapler as an assistant gm I think is a good move. He knows talent.
I thought that the Giants., given their dubious roster construction, kind of outperformed expectations in ’23., they were just surpassed by the arrival of the Dbacks. When one team goes up, another goes down.
Zaidi just fired Kapler to give himself another year or two to right the ship
Kapler was fired because of a large fan revolt
That’s what happened in Philly as well. He seems to lose the players.
Is the woke ideology in the room with you right now?
Sensationalism at its finest right here
Many thought he would be good for a short term, but his management style would eventually wear on the players. Thats what exactly happened.
@williemaysfield How would you describe his management style? Do you mean how he would have a different lineup every game and play math-ball? That would not make me happy as a player. Or do you mean something else?
what an asinine comment
I’m not sure he lost the players. The players lost motivation and Kap couldn’t/didn’t reverse it.
“Bring women into the clubhouse”??? Sexist much Rsox? Is it 1895 or 1953 again? Frighteningly backasswards
You’re correct. Lineup uncertainty etc…. Several times guys hit homers and next atbat they were replaced by a pinch hitter. Why didn’t he move Maneae back into the rotation sooner etc…. Wood bouncing back and forth from the pen. Minor miracle he let Cobb go for the no no.
So true! But the good news for the Marlins is now they can have the opportunity to sign Rhys Hoskins. Kapler’s buddy, and probably the only player who does love him. Thinking that is the Marlins motive… bring in Kapler to help assist the GM to sign Hoskins.
Of course this puts Bell (1B) and Garcia (DH) with Hoskins in a logjam for those three players filling two positions. But could there be a trade in the making?
Writers, hint hint! Get writing the rumor articles.
Somebody said woke, everybody drink!
I believe they prefer being referred to as ‘women folk’ or ‘little ladies’.
Are we really pretending that a woke ideology does not exist.
It’s one thing to debate its influence; another entirely to absurdly dispute its existence.
Many players on a great many teams have been persuaded of the value of varying lineups, of playing various positions, and so on.
It’s not imposing that, that’s wrong—it’s failing to persuade players that it’s good for the team that’s wrong.
Pretending bringing women into the clubhouse isn’t an issue is to foolishly wear blinders. Of course it’s an issue, and it needs to be handled well, not merely imposed.
Agreed. I’m not sure if it was Adam Smith or John Maynard Keynes that said, “Go woke, go broke. Go wack, smoke crack.”
Again, what players? The entire team consists of replacement-level players at best, with the exception of Logan Webb, Cam Doval and a career year out of Wilmer Flores. That whole “lost the room” narrative is always perpetuated by the front office after the fact.
Kapler wasn’t responsible for signing Ross Stripling, Mitch Haniger, Michael Conforto and Sean Manaea… Oh yeah, not to mention Tommy La Stella…
williemaysfield — There is absolutely no proof (or even whispers) that Kapler “lost the Giants clubhouse.”
What are you talked about? This was reported widely
I don’t need my baseball manager being all up on Instagram like a teenager.
You’re right. He should be on the internet thinking he is really clever by making up juvenile names like “farthands”. Way more mature.
I completely get your point, but TikTok is the social media platform you’re looking to mock with regard to teenagers.
Can’t wait to see how bad this goes!
Some of the members here called this when he was dismissed as manager. Front office role, I mean.
Peter principle
nice, not surprised he fell into a FO position – he is a smart baseball mind but his weakness is managing people, just as it was with the dodgers that led to the hideous handling of the sexual assault fiasco.
He doesn’t believe in the law.
dpsmith22 — What a bunch of BS. Get a life.
The rule of law? The laws of gravity? Please be more specific.
His weakness is taking things too far. Trying to be awesome at everything you do, is a fine way to spend your life, but people don’t like it. No one likes feeling inadequate. Needs to develop a bit of subtlety to his method.
bag o ballz, Just because Kapler was director of the Dodgers farm system, and minor league players were guilty of the assault doesn’t make him responsible. I’m not much of a Kapler fan, but he was not the authority to handle the situation. He could have tried to cover it up since he was the link between the farm and the ML club, but he didn’t. The Dodgers FO was the one to handle it, and he reported the incident to them. The farm director’s job is development of players. Discipling or releasing any player, ML or MiL, is the responsibility of the PBO/GM.
Thank you Jean Matrac
All the ladies running to be Marlins fans.
That’s why Miami is a Loser organization.
I’m here for the crash & burn (again).
Good work, Kap ! Congratulations.
No one has more discipline, no one works harder. The measure of the man…..when Zaidi sacked Kapler, Kapler was the one doing the consoling. Hope he has found his spot.
I honestly wish that Farhan would have had the foresight to move Kap to a FO role if possible rather than straight up canning him. He lost the players so he was out as a manager but he’s proven himself as a good baseball mind and the Giants could use all the developmental help they can get.
I heard Fleming talk about the sacking today. He thinks Farhan believes Kap and himself are too similar. Never off the same page. Apparently he is looking forward to some “creative tension” with Bob. Might be a reason why they didn’t go that route.
Gabe Kapler constantly failing up is both fascinating and perplexing
Makes me wonder, would a smooth tone of voice successfully gloss over my own ineptitude as well?
No.
Fascinating. Yes. Perplexing. No.
Not everyone is scared of different.
What does that have to do with anything?
What does his political views have to do with coaching a baseball team? Followup question: what does his skills coaching a baseball team have to do with being an effective asst general manager? I don’t like the guy either, but your correlations here are wild.
wow, what a racist POS you are, such a dumb comment
@Mkali,
Waiting on your comment regarding space lasers…
This guy has pictures on somebody
I bet he rocks a pocket watch to work.
gross!
Skip looking over his shoulder
Great. He can now introduce his leftist ideology to the Marlins org. And it worked so well at Phil. And S F. As for the actual on field results? Yeah…not so much.
exactly
Probably….feel bad for the team and office personnel. Woke rots everything it touches especially in an office setting
Yes, it was his woke leftist ideology that made him a platoon and opener junkie who managed via algorithm. That explains everything. It was also woke people who put all that excrement in your pants.
@DanUgglasRing ‘Woke’ isn’t a leftist ideology, just so you know.
Socialists despise it completely.
Now THAT’S a leftist ideology. Wokeness, though, which encompasses a small percentage of social issues divorced from economics and foreign policy issues, comprises about 2% of all issues.
It has nothing to do with the authentic Left except to the extent that it’s convenient for the GOP-right to demonize it for their lunkhead followers by calling it ‘left wing,’ and so that the Democrat-right can claim it as ‘left wing’ it to their lunkhead followers in order to pretend that they’re a left wing party when in truth they’re far right on economics, on war, on Wall St., and agree with the GOP on nearly every economic and foreign policy issue.
Carry on.
@evil
I feel like you’re probably going to just respond with “Oh did I trigger a lib? Do you need a safe space?”, but I’ll bite:
Do you really think he introduced “leftist ideology” to SF? Like, without him, the whole team from one of the most left leaning cities in the country would’ve only been exposed to conservative thinking?
I’m also curious how you’re hinting that makes him a bad manager, but that he managed to win 107 games in spite of that.
“Leftist ideology” equals using his first amendment right to protest by kneeling for the flag? Huh, I guess the founding fathers were pretty woke.
Who’s bringing the coconut oil?
I’m thinking there is any number of outstanding choices there for the Kap.
Coconut oil and sunny Florida. A match made in heaven!
At least they’ll save money on chairs.
Wait, is “future Hall of Famer Bob Melvin” something? News to me.
Yes! That was my first thought instead of everyone going crazy over the hiring!
THIS is a better talking point!
“Welcome baaaaack! Welcome back welcome back welcome baaaaack….”
… oops, that was Gabe Kaplan, never minding
You know Charles Johnson, an SF Giants owner, is a republican mega donor right? I doubt political ideology is of much relevance to hiring decisions in baseball.
I wasn’t so opposed to this guy. The Hype was pushed pretty good and they did win 107, so it was real. His postseason experience showed but again I figured that would grow. The team progressively got worse though. And his attention seeking became evident. Sure he said the right things and showed the right attitude. Hit all the right buttons as needed. But something was off. The Chemistry, and that also lays on Farhan for his signings.
I think Kap would do good with a talented team, but being that experienced manager I don’t think he’s there yet. Going into the Front Office will help that, if he decides to Manage again.
Kapler failed in 2 manager roles only to be fired by Giants and Phillies. Now Marlins rewarding Kapler as Assistant General Manager. Marlins will regret this decision.
Kapler was acceptable as a manager.
I thought he could be too robotic at times. The rare incidents when he got mad were nice to see and I think he should have shown more emotion.
Too many things went wrong for the Giants in 2023 and he was scape goated.
He should do fine in his new role.
I hope Kapler excels in his new role.
Kapler is a pathetic manager. The only reason the Giants did as good as they did in his first year with the Giants was because the players already knew how to play to win. From playing under Boche’s managerial experience and training. The true definition of a Manager of the Year recipient.
Once Kapler took full reign over the team last year and began using “his” managerial abilities the team sank like the titanic.
The only reason he did that good his first year managing the Giants was not deserving of true “Manager of the Year” award. That was pure… a team of players who already knew how to play the game under Boche and went out and played the game the true baseball mentality way. With Kapler just being the dugout cheerleader and pats on the butts of his players.
Kapler’s second season in charge of managing the team showed his real ability of managing a team. A pathetic manager.
Front office may be a better fit for him, based on his previous stints as manager.
Yes. Sitting behind a desk, rubbing coconut oil on his body, flexing his muscles, and taking instagram photos to post online of his lovely body.
Taking the long view, it’s good to see Bendix bring in his own people. Derek Jeter’s crew wasn’t getting the job done with respect to drafting and player development, especially in terms of position players. And that’s essential for building a sustainable winner. We need a minor league system stocked with powerful bats, like the Orioles, Braves, Rangers, and Reds The Marlins cannot rely exclusively on trades or free agent signings to build a winner. That’s not firing on all cylinders. Teams that attempt to do so usually implode and end up back at square one.
The worse this guy does the better job he gets the next year. It’s amazing.
Melvin has about the same chances of getting into the Hall of Fame as the writers of this site going on to win a Pulitzer…
You’re parroting common propaganda and a lie, which creates more divisiveness and diversion from real issues and the people who are some of the country’s enemies.
Whether one agrees with his style or not, Kapler brings attention to major issues this country faces so those issues can be improved upon, not ignored and left to grow. Failure to acknowledge and discuss is ignorant, selfish, cowardly and sometimes done for nefarious reasons.
If Kapler didn’t like the country, as you claim, he has all that is necessary to become successful elsewhere.
Well said, Gabe
The guy is a self absorbed tool. Geesh
I don’t understand the vitriol.
Right-wing Russia sympathizers mad because he supported BLM.
@enraged…You’re an even bigger tool. Do you scour the boards looking for something to bark about?
Perplexed about this one. I get Kapler was in charge of the Dodgers player development. But I think Friedman inherited him. Just not sure he’s qualified to do this job. I get it Kapler is into analytics and diet but he hasn’t really been a part of anything that has won anything unless you go back to his playing days and even that’s 20 years ago. Kapler is gonna go crazy being employed by one of the cheapest franchises out there. Especially after being in
LA where they spend and San Francisco has tried to spend. The Marlins don’t do that. Good luck Mr. Kapler.
Pay attention to details before you comment thank you
How did the USA win are freedom now think what won the wars against us now think we got attacked then what did we do to win and with what just a simple answer please
Did you string that together using predictive text or do you need medical attention?
All a waste if this is the literacy rate of the mighty USA.
Huh?
I’m terribly sorry. Here I’ve been operating under the clearly misguided understanding that this was a Major League Baseball trade rumors site. Seems more like The Keyboard Warriors of the World.
“… win are freedom”. It’s a classic. Thank you!
And by the way politics been in baseball for centuries pay attention more people
Huh again? Must be my reading comprehension acting up again
Oh and don’t forget about the schools when the kids beat a kid to death too without shootings
Geezus. Kids beating kids to death at school. Ok then. If he chooses, I’m good with him doing a little harmless protest against that as well.
No answer just my bs
Use the reply feature.
No answer just more B’s i see
I know what iam dealing with that’s why theres no answer yet just talk
If you want to engage in conversation click or press “reply”.
Interesting hire. I sense that Kapler and Schumaker will work well together with the efforts of instilling the little things in the game that Skip emphasized this past season.
Kapler is like a turd that won’t flush.
And games while he was in Philly.
He’s a communist pos
yup
Move to a communist country trust me nobody will miss you
Kreepler is a woke joke. Hope he enjoys Florida.
The lede is buried here: “future Hall of Famer, Bob Melvin.”