Mauricio Dubón on SF Giants: "The person I didn't like left already"

The SF Giants are currently facing off against the Houston Astros. Whenever the Astros are in town, that means former Giant Mauricio Dubón can make his annual comments on his messy exit in San Francisco. This time he took aim at former manager Gabe Kapler.

Mauricio Dubón on SF Giants: "The person I didn't like left already"

The Giants traded for Dubón in 2019 in exchange for Ray Black and Drew Pomeranz. It was seen as a sneaky good move by Farhan Zaidi at the time as Dubón was an exciting, young, and versatile player with ties to the Bay Area. He saw a good amount of playing time in the shortened 2020 season, but that playing time did not necessarily translate to 2021.

He was called up and sent back down quite a bit in 2021 which is what led to him being out of options the following year. The Giants faced a difficult roster crunch and decided to trade Dubón to the Astros. His speed and freewheeling play made him exciting to watch in a Giants uniform, but he also earned a reputation for making foolish mistakes on the bases.

Last year, Dubón made headlines for saying that he was not treated right by the Giants. He did not go into too much detail when he made these comments except for referencing a lack of playing time, but it seems as if he has now finally clarified what he did not like about his time with the Giants.

In an article from the Mercury News, Dubón made it clear that he was not a big fan of manager Gabe Kapler when he was on the Giants: "I tell people all the time: The person I didn't like left already. For me, that was the only problem I had. I like the guys. I know last year, I didn’t phrase it well saying I wasn’t treated right, but I just didn’t like one guy. That’s it. I’m cool with all the guys over there.”

The truth finally comes out. The legion of fans who despised former manager Gabe Kapler will jump all over this as evidence that he was a poison in the clubhouse. In reality, this is just an instance of a player who wanted to play more being upset at a manager. A story as old as time. Perhaps Dubón was also irked because he had to give up his number 19 when Kapler became manager of the team.

Perhaps Dubón had a point about playing time. Last season with the Astros he slashed .278/.309/.411 with 10 home runs and 46 RBI and won a Gold Glove. This season he is slashing .295/.323/.389 with 2 homers and 21 RBI. Perhaps a change of scenery was just what he needed.

For the Giants, both Kapler and Dubón are now both long gone so they do not need to worry about any drama as they try to win the three-game series against the Astros tonight.