Phillies Fire Manager Gabe Kapler

PHILADELPHIA, PA — After a season of extraordinary expectations ended with the Phillies failing to make the postseason, the organization decided on Thursday morning to let go manager Gabe Kapler. It brings to an end weeks, if not months, of fervent public speculation over the future of the manager role, speculation that became a sort of mania in the week and a half since the regular season came to a close.

Kapler compiled a 161-163 record in his two seasons as Phillies manager. Both years his teams started off the year leading the NL East before faltering down the stretch, with significant collapses in September. 2019's collapse was all the more poignant due to how active the Phillies had been in the offseason, adding several All Stars to the roster and committing nearly half a billion in future contracts.

While it seemed like the Phillies underperformed during Kapler's tenure, statistics show they actually overperformed what they were expected to do. Their Pythagorean record was 155-169 under Kapler.

While Kapler's dismissal is sure to satisfy a faction of the fanbase eager for a fall guy, its hard to view his dismissal as anything more than a scapegoating.

Obviously, it would be foolish to expect a managerial change to solve the issues which led to a 4th place finish in the NL East in 2019, the most important of which were out of Kapler's control. A crushing string of injuries left the Phillies without a third of their Opening Day roster, the starting rotation suffered a shocking regression, and most importantly, the team continues to be unable to develop homegrown superstars in their farm system, like all of their biggest rivals.

Despite all that, Kapler's Phillies, relying on players they never should have had to rely on due to injuries, remained in the playoff hunt until the final week of the season.

The team's most important players backed their manager.

"It hasn't been his fault," Bryce Harper told the media, including NBC Philadelphia, at the end of the regular season. "I love our staff. I enjoy our staff. I enjoy playing for our staff. They've made me better each day and I appreciate that."

"We feel like he's done a great job for us," J.T. Realmuto added. "He gets the guys to play hard. We all love playing for him...He's a guy that this clubhouse really respects."

Like any Philadelphia manager or head coach, Kapler was placed under a microscope from day one.

He's most notorious, perhaps, for his nontraditional bullpen usage, his willingness to experiment, and for the fact that he was the first manager in Philadelphia history to embrace the growing role that analytics play in baseball. While these things were hard for some fans to digest because the Phillies were so late in embracing analytics, it's no different than what any successful manager does today; a glance at Wednesday night's NLCS game between Kapler's former organization, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Washington Nationals is proof enough of that.

Because Kapler was hired by general manager Matt Klentak and president Andy MacPhail, who have repeatedly expressed their faith in Kapler, it seems likely the decision to fire him was made by owner John Middleton. If so, it's a top-down decision that went over the heads of the experienced baseball ops people which the hired to make these sorts of decisions rationally. Whether that's hubris on Middleton's part, or a justified lack of faith in the Phillies front office, is a matter of perspective.

The team has not announced a replacement, and it's not clear if they have any interviews lined up. A number of high profile managers are available, including former Orioles manager Buck Showalter, who has been connected to the Phillies in rumors. He knows the Phillies front office from his time in Baltimore, and as a veteran manager, would be a surface-level contrast to the younger Kapler.

Joe Girardi, the manger who led the Yankees over the Phillies in the 2009 World Series is also interviewing for jobs, as is former Cubs world champion Joe Maddon, though the latter has been connected to the Los Angeles Angels.

As for the remainder of the Phillies staff, they will retain Charlie Manuel as a senior advisor to the general manager. The rest of the coaching staff, outside of pitching coach Chris Young, will return.