Gabe Kapler's right-hand man with SF Giants may land a manager job

The SF Giants are looking for a new manager. While they seem to be zeroing in on a candidate, a former assistant coach of theirs also seems likely to be considered for a manager job.

Kai Correa was Gabe Kapler’s right hand man when they were together in San Francisco. Correa was the bench coach and infield coordinator on Kapler’s staff and was very trusted by Kapler. He became the interim manager after Kapler was ousted ahead of the final series of the 2023 regular season.

Former SF Giants coach Kai Correa could land manager job

Correa is very much of the new-school analytics-driven mold and he definitely seems to follow in the footsteps of Kapler as the two even wore the same kind of glasses and sported similar beards for much of their tenure together in San Francisco.

After the Giants hired Bob Melvin and reworked their coaching staff following the Kapler firing, Correa landed a job with the Cleveland Guardians under manager Stephen Vogt after he was hired following the 2023 season. The Giants probably still wish they had hired Vogt instead of Melvin.

Vogt and his staff have earned a lot of well deserved praise for turning the Guardians around these last two seasons. Cleveland has won the AL Central division each of the last two seasons, making a run to the ALCS last year as Vogt took home AL Manager of the Year honors while they were bounced by Detroit in the Wild Card round this season.

Teams looking for a new-school manager have their pick when looking at Cleveland’s staff. Correa’s name has come up with all of the managerial openings across MLB as has the name Craig Albernaz, the right-hand man of Vogt. Albernaz was even seen as a potential candidate for the job in San Francisco.

Ultimately, Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey probably does not want to be tied too closely to the Kapler regime with whoever he chooses as the next manager. Even if they are strong candidates, from an optics standpoint Posey probably wants to turn a new page and hire someone fairly fresh.

It will be interesting to see if Correa does end up getting a managerial job somewhere, though. If he goes on to have success with another team maybe the Giants will feel a bit foolish for letting him go.