The Boston Red Sox top priority right now is to figure out who is going to run their front office in the wake of firing Chaim Bloom. However, it has been a struggle to find qualified candidates that actually want to take the job. Boston's ownership has a bit of a reputation of being fickle/meddlesome and that has led a lot of the better names out there to either decline to interview at all or decide that the Red Sox's front office gig isn't for them early in the process.
There has been some progress at the very least on this front. Craig Breslow has been floated as a their top choice at the moment and there are some other names of note that are still in the running. However, a complete curveball got thrown today as Gabe Kapler apparently has been interviewed for Boston's GM position.
Red Sox Interview Gabe Kapler In GM Search https://t.co/J4hJamfufo pic.twitter.com/TaS0BE9w3r
— MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) October 20, 2023
Gabe Kapler emerges as a wild card candidate for the Red Sox's front office
You will struggle to find a figure more polarizing in baseball among leadership positions than Gabe Kapler. Kapler is a known analytics-forward guy who has a mixed record of success since his playing days including managing stints with the Phillies and Giants. The Giants just recently let him go, but it is hard to blame Kapler for the fact that the Giants didn't sign a big bat or do anything of note at the trade deadline.
There is a real argument for putting Kapler in a front office role instead of on the field. His brand of big picture thinking and strategizing could work well in a baseball operations department or as a consultant. However, giving him the top job in a big market like Boston which is at least pretending to want to contend in the near future seems like a big stretch. However, he does have front office experience as director of player development for the Dodgers, so it isn't a completely foreign realm to him.
Kapler does also have some connection to the Red Sox going back to his playing days as he played a couple short stints with the team in the mid-2000's. He clearly must have made a good impression at some point, but the idea that he could actually be considered for this job is still pretty wild.