Gabe Kapler was fired by the San Francisco Giants on Friday.
While the Giants are searching for a new manager, many teams will jump at the chance to sign the experienced and successful coach they let go after struggling with a lackluster team in San Francisco.
Who should pick up Kapler while he's available?
No. 3 team that should hire Gabe Kapler: Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates extended Derek Shelton in April, but since then he has been a terrible manager making bad moves constantly.
Shelton's first season with the Pirates was in 2020. In the 60-game season, the Pirates only won 19 and lost 41. In the next two seasons after that, they lost over 100 games a season. Despite his failure, they got off to a hot start in 2023 and decided the best thing to do was to give the manager a contract extension.
The Pirates started the season 15-7. To reward the good record, Pittsburgh reached an agreement on an extension past the 2024 season. It's unknown the full terms of the contract, but with a record of exactly .400 and a roster that should be nearing contention, they need to move on from Shelton.
They need a leader for the future, and that fits Gabe Kapler perfectly. After leading the 2021 Giants to a 107-55 record, he never got a shot in the postseason. But the Pirates are pretty much done rebuilding, and a contender needs a good coach, which is exactly what Kapler is.
The main problem with the Pirates is they don't want to spend money, and Kapler wants to be on a perennial playoff team that he can lead to a World Series. But if not many teams are interested in him, the Pirates could be a good landing spot
No. 2 team that should hire Gabe Kapler: San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres decided to replace Jayce Tingler with another subpar manager in Bob Melvin, who was unable to take one of the most talented teams in MLB in 2023 to the postseason.
The Padres are probably one of the worst best teams; they have talent everywhere on the team and at most positions. They have Ha-Seong Kim, one of the best defensive second basemen; then they have Xander Bogaerts and Manny Machado on the other side of the infield. In the outfield, besides Trent Grisham, they have two of the best outfielders in Juan Soto and Fernando Tatis Jr.
You can't even blame the pitching for the failure to win games because they have the likely Cy Young Award winner in Blake Snell and a talented core of starting pitchers in Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha and Joe Musgrove. The relievers and closers aren't the problem either, as they have Josh Hader, who is unhittable, and others like Tom Cosgrove, Nick Martinez, Scott Barlow, and others.
Going into this season, FanGraphs gave the Padres a 55.4 percent chance to win the division and an 85.3 percent chance to make the postseason, with an absurd 11.1 percent chance to win the World Series.
The Padres were the favorite to win the division and the second favorite to win the World Series, but they failed to even make the postseason, currently holding an abysmal record of 79-80. They've been one of the best teams to finish the season with a record of 17-7 in September, but it's too little too late.
There is a metric called Pythagorean Win-Loss that estimates how many games a team should have won, and it says the Padres should have a record of 90-69. Currently, with a record of 79-80, it shows they've underperformed and lost 11 games they should've won.
They've been by far the worst team in MLB in one-point games, holding a record of 7-23. It's one point, and they can't even score one point when they need it most. The Padres have been a disgrace in 2023, and they need to move on from Melvin, who has never won anything in his 20-year career.
The Padres need a coach who can lead them to the postseason, and Gabe Kapler might not be the best fit, but he is at least better than Bob Melvin has ever been.
No. 1 team that should hire Gabe Kapler: Mets
The New York Mets in 2023 had the highest payroll and one of the most talented teams in all of MLB. They failed to make the postseason and need to hire a new manager if they want to be contenders.
The Mets' current manager is Buck Showalter, who failed to take them past the first round of the 2022 postseason after collapsing at the end of the season and giving the Braves the division. The end-of-season collapse forced them into a best-of-three wild-card game versus the San Diego Padres, which they lost 2-1.
After an early exit in the 2022 postseason, they decided to spend even more money, signing top free agent pitcher Justin Verlander, while also extending Center Fielder Brandon Nimmo. They thought spending the most would make them contenders, but that logic failed, and in 2023, they got even worse.
In this 2023 season, the Mets fell apart and decided to trade away quite a few players, including Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Mark Canha, and others. They decided to remove much of the salary after not becoming contenders, and since then, they've hit a new low point, now holding a record of 72-86.
The Mets wanted a long-time manager and decided on Showalter, who retired with the Baltimore Orioles after the 2018 season. He never won anything in his now 22-year career, but they decided to give him a shot despite running the Orioles into the ground, finishing with a record of 47-115 in 2018.
Showalter was and always will be a losing manager who lucks into having a good team, and the Mets are starting to realize this as it seems his time is limited with talks they could go after another manager from the Milwaukee Brewers in Craig Counsell. But instead of Counsell, they should pursue Gabe Kapler, who has less experience, but more success with fewer weapons.