Filing this under “news that will shock absolutely no one”
The San Francisco Giants announced today that they will be extending manager Gabe Kapler’s contract through the 2024 season. Kapler’s initial contract was for three years, so this extension adds two seasons onto that.
We have officially extended the contract of Manager Gabe Kapler through the 2024 season pic.twitter.com/lb5ImSPWJm
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) November 12, 2021
This comes as no surprise, of course. Possibly the easiest decision the organization will have to make this off-season. Since taking the reigns for the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Kapler has taken a team that was perpetually on the brink of a complete reboot and overhauled them into not only being contenders in 2020, but also the best team in baseball in the 2021 season, with a franchise-record 107 wins.
Obviously everyone involved would have liked to have seen the team make a deeper playoff run, but no one who watched the NL West race down the stretch could argue that it wasn’t an extremely successful and impressive season.
That success is equally attributable to President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi, as well as the coaching staff Kapler has assembled. But everyone around him is quick to note that it is Kapler’s managing style itself that has been a huge influence in winning everyone over and getting them to buy into the coaching staff’s vision. And the results speak for themselves.
Kapler is a finalist and likely favorite to win NL Manager of the Year. Which is just further proof that this was an easy decision for the organization. Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area notes that Kapler is quoted as saying “There is nowhere else I’d rather be, and I’m excited to continue preparing with the entire organization.”
And I think I speak for most Giants fans in saying that we’re excited to have him for two more seasons.