{"id":25640,"date":"2019-10-10T11:54:04","date_gmt":"2019-10-10T15:54:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/?p=25640"},"modified":"2019-10-10T12:28:24","modified_gmt":"2019-10-10T16:28:24","slug":"philadelphia-phillies-fire-manager-gabe-kapler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2019\/10\/10\/philadelphia-phillies-fire-manager-gabe-kapler\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia Phillies Fire Manager Gabe Kapler"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Philadelphia Phillies Fire Manager <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kaplega01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gabe Kapler<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/mlb-teams\/philadelphia-phillies\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Philadelphia Phillies<\/a> have fired manager <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kaplega01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Gabe Kapler<\/strong><\/a> after just two seasons with the club. Kapler was hired before the 2018 season and was under contract for the 2020 season. He finishes his tenure in Philadelphia with a 161-163 record. The Phillies are now the eighth team searching for a new manager this offseason.<\/p>\n<p>This past season, the Phillies failed to make the postseason after spending nearly a half-billion dollars to improve their roster. They would finish the season at the .500 mark (81-81). The 2019 campaign marks the eighth consecutive year the Phillies have missed the playoffs.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The Phillies have dismissed Gabe Kapler<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jim Salisbury (@JSalisburyNBCS) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JSalisburyNBCS\/status\/1182301503555588097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 10, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>General Manager Matt Klentak&#8217;s Statement<\/h3>\n<p>After the announcement of Kapler&#8217;s termination, Phillies GM <strong>Matt Klentak<\/strong> released the following statement.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;On behalf of everyone in our baseball operations department, I want to thank Kap for his tireless commitment to the Phillies over the last two years. When we hired Kap, it was our goal to develop a positive, forward-thinking and collaborative culture throughout the organization that would allow us to compete with the best teams in the league year in and year out.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;While we have fallen short in the win column for the last two years, I can confidently say that Kap&#8217;s efforts have established a strong and sustainable foundation for this organization moving forward. In the coming weeks, John, Andy, and I will work diligently with others in our baseball operations department to find the right individual to build upon the existing foundation and bring a championship home to Philadelphia.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>A Disappointing Two Years<\/h3>\n<p>Kapler came to Philadelphia from the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/mlb-teams\/los-angeles-dodgers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a>, saying his goal was to bring a World Series title to team owner <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/middljo01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">John Middleton<\/a><\/strong>. However, Kapler&#8217;s nontraditional, analytical style of managing never caught on with the Phillies faithful. In his first season, on Opening Day, Kapler took out his ace <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/n\/nolaaa01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Aaron Nola<\/a><\/strong> after 5 1\/3 innings with the Phillies up 5-0 against the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/mlb-teams\/atlanta-braves\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Atlanta Braves<\/a>. As a result, the Phillies would go on to lose the game 8-5 and finish the road trip 1-4. When the rookie manager returned to Citizens Bank Park for the home opener, he was serenaded by boos. The Phillies would finish the 2018 season 80-82.<\/p>\n<p>In the offseason, the Phillies signed <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/harpebr03.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bryce Harper<\/a><\/strong> to a historic contract and made big trades for catcher <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/realmjt01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">J.T. Realmuto<\/a><\/strong> and infielder <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/segurje01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jean Segura<\/a><\/strong>. The team also signed <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mccutan01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Andrew McCutchen<\/a><\/strong> to a three-year deal. Although they spent most of April and May in first-place, a seven-game losing streak in June, and multiple injuries throughout the early days of the season halted their momentum. They would stay in the NL Wild Card picture for most of the season, but the team lost eight of nine in late September, before ultimately getting eliminated by Harper&#8217;s former team, the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/mlb-teams\/washington-nationals\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Washington Nationals<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"-xwJMHf6TN9oPIsY_-HiDA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1178582661\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'-xwJMHf6TN9oPIsY_-HiDA',sig:'JTsxYiTpb9rgZ0RwO7l8AD3afDQNytnkwMHEWq9pdV8=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1178582661',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Philadelphia Phillies Fire Manager Gabe Kapler The Philadelphia Phillies have fired manager Gabe Kapler after just two seasons with the club. Kapler was hired before the 2018 season and was under contract for the 2020 season. He finishes his tenure in Philadelphia with a 161-163 record. The Phillies are now the eighth team searching for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2924,"featured_media":25645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,35,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-news","category-phillies"],"modified_by":"Aaron Cornett","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2924"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}