In the National League East, the Washington Nationals, New York Mets, and Philadelphia Phillies made moves in the offseason geared towards catching the Atlanta Braves and returning to the postseason. With the moves made, it put each of their respective managers on the hot seat.
With the Washington Nationals making it to the second NLCS in franchise history, Dave Martinez‘s job is safe. The same cannot be said for Mickey Callaway who was fired less than a week after the season ended. While the Mets seemed to take too long a decision to decide the fate of their manager, the Phillies took longer. As reported by Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia, the Phillies have finally decided to fire Gabe Kapler.
In Kapler’s two seasons in Philadelphia, the team had a 161-163 manager. While the team did improve by one game, more was expected from a team which added Bryce Harper, Andrew McCutchen, David Robertson, Jean Segura, J.T. Realmuto, and others this offseason. Of note, McCutchen and Robertson would suffer season-ending injuries and would not be able to contribute much to the team.
Notably, Kapler was hired after the Mets moved quickly to hire Callaway. At that time, the Phillies appeared poised to hire Callaway as their manager. After Callaway was terminated by the Mets, reports indicated the Phillies were interested in hiring him to be their pitching coach. Perhaps, with Kapler being fired, the Phillies could give Callaway another interview for their recent managerial opening.
At the moment, there are eight manager openings with a number of qualified candidates available. According to reports, it seems Joe Maddon will be the Angels next manager taking one job and one high profile manager off the board. Moving forward, it will be interesting to see if the Mets and Phillies have a shared interest in a manager and who each team will select for the position.
