MLB WINTER MEETINGS

December 6, 2022

Gabe Kapler

San Francisco Giants

Press Conference

GABE KAPLER: Hello, everyone.

Q. Farhan has confirmed, which we kind of all knew about Judge visiting Oracle Park. Did you get a chance to talk to him when he was there?

GABE KAPLER: As much fun as it would be for me to comment on free agents, it's not my job. My job is to dream about the possibilities and then look forward to developing any players that we acquire during this time period and then stay as focused as I possibly can on the players that are currently in Giants uniforms.

I mean, that obviously fulfills me, but I understand why it's not all that helpful. Our policy is that I'm not going to be commenting on free agents.

Q. Is it fun for you to kind of observe?

GABE KAPLER: Yeah, of course. As a fan, Susan. Susan always tells me I need to think about things as a fan.

So as a fan, this is great. It's really exciting for baseball. Envisioning some of these players in new uniforms, and obviously the names that we're all talking about, really excited about the possibility of some of them being Giants and trust the process and how hard our front office and our staff in general is working on both evaluating and acquiring the best free agents.

As the manager, I'm very excited about the possibilities and also very excited about the players currently in our organization.

Q. How do you feel when you talk about the possibilities of potential players for the Giants, more that than that just overall, how much do you feel this continues to grow the game and gain interest from fan bases in San Francisco and outside?

GABE KAPLER: I've been coming to Winter Meetings for a lot of years, and obviously we had some breaks for various reasons, but this is the most exciting time that I can remember.

And it's actually -- this feels like there's a lot at stake for the game with the draft lottery, with the big names like the shortstops and all of the players that we're talking about, it feels like there's a lot at stake for Major League Baseball.

We want to be an exciting brand at the Winter Meetings, not just during the season. I think this year is an indication that we can be exciting.

Q. Does it feel like there's a lot at stake for the Giants?

GABE KAPLER: Yes, but always. It's not unique to this moment. We've talked about this in the past. And I think it's a good one to keep revisiting.

But at the end of '21, there was a lot at stake, and the beginning of '22, there was a lot at stake right in the middle of the season. There's the playoffs on the line, free agency, trade deadline. There's always a lot at stake for Major League Baseball organizations.

A team like the San Francisco Giants, we have a very passionate fan base. That passion is matched by the members of our front office, our clubhouse staff, our coaching staff, everybody up and down the organization. So, sure, yeah, a lot's at stake.

Q. You're not the guy who signs the players, obviously, but did you have a sense going into this off-season that the Giants as a whole are going to be big spenders and be very aggressive in going out and getting -- not all, but going for the top flight players on the market?

GABE KAPLER: The distinction that I would make is it's really less about being big spenders and much more about being relentless in finding the best possible fits for the San Francisco Giants.

To be fair, that was fair at the end of '20, it was true at the end of '21 as well. Yeah, we're always going to be looking under every stone. I'm not talking about any one individual myself, but like a group is going to be looking under every stone to get every possible upgrade to create the best possible roster for the Giants when we start '23 and have the depth in place to handle the fires that are sure to pop up, the injuries that are sure to pop up, the lack of performance that is definitely going to happen.

This is about building as much foundation and strength and depth as we can possibly have to make it all the way through the '23 season. I don't have to tell you this, but also beyond and like for many years to come.

Q. What sort of conversations have you had with Crawford about potentially moving to third depending on what sort of acquisitions are made?

GABE KAPLER: None.

Q. How much did the conversation start, as far as the end of last season and going into obviously free agency and Winter Meetings, how long did those conversations take place, when did they take place for you guys to have a plan for what you want to go into free agent period with?

GABE KAPLER: The best way to say it is ongoing. Really legit all the way through the year. As much as it feels like the season ends and then you ramp up for the middle of the winter, I think teams are planning for two, three, five years down the road all the time.

And like people are discussing who are the free agents in '24 and '25 now because it's like all a big puzzle. So what happens this off-season is definitely going to impact what happens two off-seasons from now. So all the time.

Q. What are your thoughts on having your top starter participating in the WBC, and how do you think you'll handle that?

GABE KAPLER: That's an interesting one because I think there's a lot of benefit. Obviously, we're talking about low done Webb and participating in the World Baseball Classic. There's so much development that can occur for Logan.

The worrier in every -- that is inside of every manager is going to be like, oh, man, what if something happens? Not just to Logan, but anybody that's participating in the WBC for any of the teams. So that's tough. That's a tough thing to think about and to come to terms with.

At the same time, you recognize how much potential development is in there for Logan and the other players that are going to participate in the WBC. It's real. It's very, very intense. These guys are playing for their home countries, and that matters.

I respect the fact that our players want to compete at the highest level and compete for their countries.

Q. Do you know who else might be playing for their countries yet? Have you had confirmation on some of those players?

GABE KAPLER: I have some ideas, but I'm not making any announcements about that right now.

Q. What makes San Francisco unique as a spot that could attract high level free agency?

GABE KAPLER: I think it's -- I personally think it's among the countries, if not the country's most beautiful city. I think for people that want outdoors stuff -- I'm an outdoors person. If you want hikes and you want ocean and you want to surf, you want to be outside, San Francisco offers all that. You want city life and culture, theater, restaurants, San Francisco offers that. If you want tech, we're right in the middle of it all.

So if you want proximity to other great cities, you want to go wine tasting. It's not hard for me to sell San Francisco.

Q. What about the Giants?

GABE KAPLER: I think we're a very well-funded, very well-led, very progressive organization that wants to compete for National League and expects to compete for National League West titles perennially. And a support staff that has shown to be really good at getting the best out of players and helping players advance in their careers and acquire more opportunities.

Q. What does a team that signs Carlos Rodón getting?

GABE KAPLER: A bulldog top of the rotation starter that misses bats, that desperately wants to win, that cares about his teammates and his -- just like an excellent top of the league number one starter.

Q. The question is without having Carlos signed and (indiscernible) off the market, are you guys okay moving forward without that kind of obvious No. 2 behind Logan?

GABE KAPLER: I just don't think that's how we're viewing it. We all know that we're going to be looking for help in our rotation. Is that what you're asking?

Q. Well, basically, Logan too --

GABE KAPLER: Like are you okay? Is that what you're asking, are you okay? I just want to make sure I'm answering the right question.

Q. I want to know your thoughts in terms of just having Logan alone at the type of the rotation. Not to mention anybody else, but Logan and the others.

GABE KAPLER: We have a couple of other starters in our rotation that did a really nice job this year and that a lot of teams would be really happy to have as their No. 2, No. 3, and maybe think about Alex Cobb, had we played a little bit better defense behind Alex and he stayed a little bit healthier, he could sit in the 2 hole in anybody's rotation. He was just nasty this year.

That's all to say we're also going to go out and look for help in our rotation. I don't think that's any secret. To answer your question directly, I don't think there's any team that's okay with where they stand in the middle of December. You're just like constantly trying to improve.

Q. Is having the front office experience and now being on the field managing side, how involved are you in the Giants' attempts to augment their roster, or do you sort of silo yourself on the field side?

GABE KAPLER: First, I love it. So I'm naturally curious and interested in what's happening in our front office all the time. So I'll acknowledge, if you talk to all the different managers around the game, some managers are wanting to have that really -- that big break.

Because the season is such a grind. You have to be available every single day. You have to be engaged every single day on so many different levels, so it's a nice break for a good portion of the managers to just kind of get away.

I'm personally not wired like that. I definitely want the breaks, but I'm also really invested. And I think the relationship that I have with Farhan and the one that I'm developing with Pete and the one that I have continued to try to develop with our front office lends itself to good, quality conversations on a daily basis about all of these things.

It's not my number one responsibility. That's why I kind of started the conversation like I did. My number one responsibility is helping the players that are coming to our roster and that are on our roster be the best that they can possibly be.

But I'm very interested and curious and want to contribute on a daily basis.

Q. So who is more pestering, front office to you or you to front office?

GABE KAPLER: I know when it's time to let other people do their jobs and play a supporting role, but I'm always available. And it doesn't take me long to respond.

Q. What were your takeaways from the playoff run that the Padres went on?

GABE KAPLER: Sure. Can I be like totally frank?

Q. Absolutely.

GABE KAPLER: I was, like, on camping trips. I know this sort of runs counter to what I just said to Lindsey, but I wasn't paying particularly close attention, to be fair.

I know their roster inside and out because we played so much against them, and I really respect their leadership and coaching staff and their talent and how aggressive they've been in free agency and player acquisition, respect all of that. But to be frank, I didn't pay close enough attention to give you anything good.

Q. You spent some time with Reggie Crawford?

GABE KAPLER: Yes.

Q. What did you think about him?

GABE KAPLER: He's a really bright individual. You guys saw it when he came to the ballpark. A lot of star quality, very, very physical, and probably what I learned most is that we have a lot in common. He likes to be outside and capture footage from the things that he's seeing.

I think he just turned 22. So a lot of player development, personal development to come, but a smart dude. We spent some time and had a meal after we hiked. I learned a lot about him at that point, his background, where he comes from, and what's going to shape him going forward. He's a really, really fascinating dude.

Q. Who asked who to go hiking?

GABE KAPLER: Where we were, we were at Papago and both, like, getting a workout in the morning. We were chitchatting. What are you thinking? I'm thinking about going hiking, going to Sedona. For me, we're also going to go hiking, cool, let's go.

I ended up reaching out to Brad Grems, our clubhouse manager, and Brad and Ashley, his wife, joined us, and we all hung out and hiked and talked baseball.

Q. Have you been in touch with La Stella?

GABE KAPLER: Yes.

Q. How's he doing?

GABE KAPLER: He's doing well. I think he just got back. So I think his game plan was to go to Colorado to work with Ky for a couple of days, which he did, and that went really well. I think from there he was going to go, if I'm not mistaken, do some hitting stuff in Texas, but Tommy's relentless about trying to get the best out of this off-season. So far it's going well.

Q. Japanese player pitcher Senga willing to come to U.S. Are you familiar with him?

GABE KAPLER: So our policy is not to comment on free agents. I've obviously seen Senga's work and tremendous pitcher, very exciting, exciting for him and his family and everybody in Japan that he has an opportunity to come to the United States. I'm sure he's going to land with the right club and perform very well.

Q. You wish to have him in your team?

GABE KAPLER: I'm wishing that he has a lot of success coming over to the United States. I hope he lands with the right club. I'm sure he would do great in any uniform.

Q. With the new schedule now, there are three very good teams in the NL West. You won't have to beat up on each other as often. Does it serve -- well, I guess, what do you think of the change, not having to play the Dodgers and Padres and everybody so often?

GABE KAPLER: You know the Diamondbacks were really tough on us this year. They're a really challenging team. I think about the Diamondbacks a lot because they're so gifted and athletic and they're all so young. I think Tory does a great job, and Mike Kay and their whole front office is just a good group. So the Diamondbacks are also.

Obviously like on any given year you could have the Rockies take a big step forward. It's always going to be a very well equipped division. I think it's good for the game that we're not playing that many games even though it's not that much fewer. Marginally, I think it improves things for players and staff and to some degree other fans.

I'm sure fans can't get enough of the Red Sox-Yankees, and fans can't get enough of the Giants and Dodgers, and to some degree or another, maybe the Padres and Dodgers, Padres and Giants, whatever. Whatever your rivalry of choice is, I'm sure you want to see it as much of it as possible.

My perspective is what's best for the game is a little more seeing other clubs in different parts of the country a little bit more often. I think it's good for the sport.

Q. Adjacent to that topic, how did you think the new format for the playoffs and the way the seedings played out?

GABE KAPLER: I think that's also really good for baseball. Just more opportunity for more fans to be invested for longer during the season is just really good for all of us.

I think there were some well-documented challenges, ones that I don't necessarily need to go over and repeat, but for the most part, I think baseball really benefited from the playoff format from last year.

Q. Did you finalize your coaching staff?

GABE KAPLER: Yeah, same staff. Everybody's coming back. We have some additions that are non-coaching, non-traditional coaching related, but nothing to announce for our regular staff.

Q. How has your managerial style changed since your time in Philadelphia?

GABE KAPLER: I've said this a bit in the past, but I have less of like a sure fire plan in my brain. I probably know what I don't know better now than I did then. So maybe just ask a few more questions, bring a few more people into conversations, particularly when they're big decisions about player conversations.

Just try to get as much of an accurate reflection of what's happening as possible. There was some of that in Philadelphia, I just think it's part of my own personal evolving is just to listen a little bit more, listen a little bit more successfully each year.

Q. When you were with the Dodgers, you were playing when Cody Bellinger was coming up. Is it a bit hard for you to watch his career trajectory the last couple of years, where he was and where he's at right now?

GABE KAPLER: I think he's one of the most interestingly talented defenders in the sport in center field. You remember obviously I was the farm director of the Dodgers, and during that time period, he was like one of the slickest first basemen in the Minor Leagues.

With that, people really saw him as a fixture at first base with the Dodgers. One of the things we discussed was let's try to give Bellinger as many paths to the Major League roster as possible. So there was thoughts and conversation about could he play the outfield? Then we saw him out in center field, and he was an absolute natural out there. It surprised nobody because he was so physically and athletically gifted that he could handle that transition.

It just gave him another path. And now when I see Cody Bellinger on the other side of the field, we've seen a lot of him, you always have like some envy about how good he is on closing on balls in front of him, how athletic he is on balls over his head, how strong his throwing arm has been when he's been at his most healthy.

Obviously everybody knows that there's still a pretty athletic -- he's 28 years old? Yeah, there's probably room for growth as a Major League hitter. Maybe he gets back to his 21 form at some point.

I also remember him at 17 and 18 being pretty nasty. So those things are still within his reach. Having gotten to know Cody, I wish all those things for him.