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It’s been one month into the “Great Experiment” known as the “Gabe Kapler Era” (aka “Be Bold.”) Time to take an objective look at how things have fared so far.
In full disclosure, I am not “heavy” into the analytics that have made their way into every corner of professional baseball. I have always been a fan of stats and using statistical information when analyzing players, but I was not a big fan of being “all-in.” While I enjoyed the movie “Moneyball,” I don’t believe you can use the philosophy started by the Oakland Athletics several years ago and base most/all aspects of building a team on numbers.
Also, (and again being completely honest), I admit I was very critical of Kapler with some of his experiments in spring training and several gaffs that took place during the first week of the regular season.
I was worried.
But I always try to have patience when making my analysis. I had an opportunity to speak with the Phillies Manager during the team’s first home stand at Citizens Bank Park, and I have to admit, he did impress me—for several reasons.
Firstly, he answered all of the questions and issues through the first week of the season (including his outfielder Nick Williams openly questioning his decision and another anonymous player saying his manager should “stay out of their way”).
He didn’t skirt the question or try to say that it was made up. Instead, he said he talked with Williams and addressed those and other issues with the respective players. He was firm in his decisions, addressed them privately but was still open in admitting that everything he has done has not worked out.
This in itself is quite different from previous Philly managers—among them Terry Francona (who later went on to win a World Series). When “Tito” was questioned early in his career (ironically, for not starting his best player on Opening Day—something Kapler also did), Francona starting whining about the media being out to get him and tried to make himself out to be victim, something that will never endear a person to the baseball fans in the Delaware Valley. (I believe he learned his lesson and is much more responsive in media interviews since his departure and not coincidently, had much better success as a manager).
Secondly, Kapler has cut back a bit with making in-game decisions solely based on numbers. He’s left his starting pitchers (who have pitched surprisingly through the first three weeks) in longer than he initially said he was going to do and has rarely gotten caught without available players—even while working with a shorter-than-typical bench.
These things have paid off with an impressive record (albeit against playing some of the worst teams in baseball during the season’s first four weeks).
However, Kapler has won over one skeptical observer so far with the way he has handled his club. I’m still not 100% convinced that they are playoff contenders this season, but I haven’t been impressed with very many other teams so far this year, and I’m certainly more confident of the Phillies’ direction than I was a month ago.
For more insights and Phillies interviews with manager Gabe Kapler, pitcher Vince Velasquez, Maikel Franco, Hector Neris and more, look back through recent episodes of “SportsTalk” through RCN On-Demand and here in previous “SportsTalk Shop” blog entries.
We’ll continue to talk baseball on this week’s “SportsTalk” show with Oakland Athletics pitcher Lou Trivino. Lou was born and grew up in the RCN of Pennsylvania region and just made his MLB debut last week. He will have some great stories to tell about his rise to the Big Leagues and what his first few games in the Majors have been like.
Also on this Thursday’s program, we’ll bring in beat writers from different areas to recap the NFL Draft, with an emphasis on the teams most popular with fans within the RCN-TV viewing area.
