Former Giants manager Gabe Kapler will remain in baseball next season, though he won’t be in uniform.
Kapler, who was fired in September after four seasons in the Giants dugout, has been hired by the Miami Marlins to be their new assistant general manager, according to multiple reports Friday morning. The Miami Herald’s Craig Mish was the first to report the news, which has not been announced by the club.
Kapler returns to a front office role after accumulating a 456-411 record over six seasons managing in San Francisco and Philadelphia. Before beginning his managerial career, Kapler oversaw the Dodgers’ minor-league system as their director of player development from 2014-17.
In Miami, Kapler joins three other assistant GMs under newly hired president of baseball operations Peter Bendix, who replaced Kim Ng following her surprise resignation earlier this offseason. According to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, Kapler will be primarily focused on player development but will be involved in all areas of baseball operations, reporting that the Marlins were “intrigued by his success in player development” while in Los Angeles.
Corey Seager, Cody Bellinger, Joc Pederson and Julio Urías made up only a sampling of the prospects who graduated into future major-league All-Stars during Kapler’s tenure as farm director. But his time in Los Angeles was also marred by his mishandling of sexual assault allegations against members of their minor-league system.
Announcing his decision to remove Kapler with three games left in the season, Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said “I don’t have one negative thing to say” about him, and his reputation as a forward thinker and hard worker appeared to remain in good standing within the industry.
Shortly after his departure, Kapler interviewed for the top front office post in Boston before it was awarded to Craig Breslow.
New jobs haven’t been hard to come by for the outgoing members of the former administration.
Andrew Bailey was announced this week as the Red Sox pitching coach, allowing him to make a lateral move to be closer to his family. According to the New York Post, he also interviewed to be the Yankees’ bench coach.
Before hiring Bob Melvin to replace Kapler, the Giants considered Stephen Vogt, who was eventually hired as Terry Francona’s successor in Cleveland and has rounded out his staff with a pair of Kapler’s former lieutenants, with Craig Albernaz going from bullpen and catching coach to bench coach and Kai Correa joining him as field coordinator.
First base coach Antoan Richardson was hired for the same role with the Mets for new manager Carlos Mendoza, another candidate considered by the Giants.
