Controversial former SF Giants manager lands big promotion with Miami Marlins

Controversial former SF Giants manager Gabe Kapler has been promoted. The Miami Marlins have made Kapler their new general manager after he has served as an assistant general manager since December of 2023.

Kapler will serve under president of baseball operations Peter Bendix. Since Kapler has been involved in the organization, the Marlins went 62-100 in 2024 but turned things around and finished 2025 with a record of 79-83.

Former SF Giants manager Gabe Kapler promoted by Marlins

The Marlins must be pleased with the work he has been doing behind the scenes to get himself this promotion and it shows that he has not been completely shunned by the baseball world after the Giants fired him after four seasons as manager following the 2023 season.

Kapler was always polarizing and controversial amongst Giants fans during his tenure. His personality and managerial style which leaned heavily on analytics definitely earned scorn when things did not go right for the team.

He and president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi looked like geniuses when the team won 107 games in 2021 and dethroned the Los Angeles Dodgers as National League West champions, but the seasons of mediocrity that ensued turned off fans and eventually led to Kapler losing the clubhouse.

Even though he will always be divisive among Giants fans, people in major league baseball have clearly not been completely turned off by him or the people he surrounded himself with. His bench coach in San Francisco, Kai Correa, just got hired as the bench coach of the New York Mets and Craig Albernaz, who was a member of Kapler's coaching staff in San Francisco as well, just got hired as the manager of the Baltimore Orioles.

It seems people in baseball respect the team he helped build in San Francisco but maybe realized that he was not best-suited for a front-facing role like manager where he is an easy object of criticism and can rub people the wrong way. Perhaps working behind the scenes is where he is best suited.

We will see how Kapler's tenure as general manager goes. If the Marlins are a solid team over the next few seasons, do not be surprised if Kapler's name gets mentioned if there are openings for president of baseball operations around MLB.

Giants fans who despise him may not understand what the appeal would be, but to more analytically-inclined front offices he clearly has some value as evidenced by his promotion.