Phillies Leaning Towards Keeping Gabe Kapler?

The Phillies season officially ended September 29th, and with that came the obvious talk of potential firings. Hitting coach John Mallee was fired midseason, pitching coach Chris Young will not return, and GM Matt Klentak will be hanging around for at least another year.

However, one name that the Phillies have gone completely silent on is second-year manager Gabe Kapler.

After the Phillies shelled out almost half a billion dollars this past offseason, expectations for success were through the roof. Following a 2019 campaign which ended in complete mediocrity (81-81), the entire fanbase was pretty much calling for Kapler’s departure.

The young manager out of Hollywood routinely struggled with lineup creation, bullpen usage, player development, and the overall ability to inspire his clubhouse (.357 win percentage in September).

It’s now been just around a week since the Phillies season ended and nothing has been said via the organization regarding Kapler and his 2020 status. Seeing as teams like the Cubs, Angels, and Mets have all already let go of their managers and begun the search for a new one, this is alarming, and at least in my opinion most likely points to Kapler NOT being relieved of his duties.

When it comes to information regarding the Kapler decision, the most that’s become available to us is through Phillies beat writers close to the organization. Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer (who broke the news of the Young firing and Klentak retention) reported that a decision on Kapler is expected later next week. Jim Salisbury of NBCS tweeted something similar on October 3, stating that Phillies owner John Middleton is “still pondering Gabe Kapler’s future and resolution likely won’t come until next week”.

So what does all this mean? Normally when a baseball team takes this long to make a decision, it’s because they are leaning towards keeping the manager around. If the Phillies were 100% out on Kapler, they would have let him go immediately following the conclusion of the season, similar to what the Angels did.

This no doubt would be an unpopular decision amongst the Philly fan base, although it’s never all one person’s fault. Kapler quickly became the scapegoat for the painful experience that was the 2019 Phillies, and he might have to pay the price for it.

As news regarding “Kapler-watch” continues to break, make sure to stay posted here on “That Balls Outta Here” to stay up to date on the situation.