Thoughts on Kapler: So, 2015, the Toronto Blue Jays are a good team again. I go to Toronto, and see how they did it. Walk into the manager’s office and there’s John Gibbons. He greets me warmly. Gibbs is old school. No pre-game podium. I ask him, “How’d you get back here?”
2) He laughs. “I’m mowing my lawn in San Antonio when the phone rings. It’s Alex Anthopolous. He asks me if I want to manage the team. I thought he was kidding. Of course I say yes. Chance to get back in the big leagues. Look at the team. Playoff team. Chance to do something.”
3) “Why you?”
“Comfort. A lot of these new GMs want someone relatable, someone they can sit down and communicate with. They want to have more input. Alex was familiar with me. He knew we weren’t going to butt heads. He wanted someone he was comfortable with.”
4) From late September, the word out of San Francisco was the Farhan really liked Kapler. They had history in LA. The word that kept coming back was “comfort” in a working relationship. I did not talk to anyone who felt Kapler was the best available candidate.
5) Yet I also didn’t speak to anyone who felt there was another candidate being seriously considered. “Comfort” defeated “Merit.” And yet when we discuss jobs and who gets them, people are so quick to to believe merit is a primary criteria, when it isn’t.
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