'I'm Depressed': Phillies Twitter Reacts To Front Office's Press Conference Explaining Gabe Kapler Firing
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- One day after the Philadelphia Phillies fired Gabe Kapler as manager 11 (11!) days after the 2019 season ended, owner John Middleton, president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail and general manager Matt Klentak held a press conference to explain the decision Friday. It was something.
The Phillies finished 161-163 in two seasons with Kapler as the manager. In 2019, expectations were sky high after signing Bryce Harper, trading for J.T. Realmuto and a bevy of other transactions destined to get the Phillies back to the postseason for the first time since 2011.
Instead, the Phils finished 81-81, their starting rotation was a disaster, bullpen destroyed by injuries and almost every player had prolonged slumps with none more concerning than Rhys Hoskins'. The last two Septembers, when good teams separate themselves, the Phillies fell apart.
Front Office Reveals Gabe Kapler Is No Longer Phillies' Manager Because 'September Baseball Matters'
"Ultimately, I felt that if I were going to bring Gabe back, I had to be very, very confident that we were going to have a different outcome in 2020 and those September collapses, I just kept bumping up against them, and I couldn't get comfortable enough, confident enough that if I brought him back we wouldn't have another problem, and therefore I made the decision that I did," Middleton said.
Phillies Twitter on Friday didn't come away from the team's press conference exactly confident in the organization's direction.
It'll be another offseason filled with Phillies talk. They need to hire a manager, a hitting coach, a pitching coach, a training staff, sign a starting rotation, address the bullpen, and add another bat in the everyday lineup.
The Phillies will get to work, but after that press conference, the fan base has its concerns.
