Giants GM Farhan Zaidi hedges on retaining manager Gabe Kapler: 'Look at how we can improve across the board'

Zaidi and Kapler both have contracts that expire after the 2024 season

The San Francisco Giants will fall short of the playoffs for the third time in four tries under executive Farhan Zaidi and manager Gabe Kapler's leadership. Baseball is a results-based industry, and the Giants' woes fueled speculation that they might make a change at one or both positions -- something that chairman Greg Johnson recently attempted to squash by telling the San Francisco Chronicle's Susan Slusser that they "will both be here next year." 

Whether or not Zaidi intended to, he reopened that can of worms on Thursday during an appearance on KNBR 680's "Tolbert & Copes" radio show. When Zaidi was asked if anything had changed over the past fortnight with respect to Kapler's job security, he did not offer a straightforward response.

"I mean, obviously I said at the time [of Johnson's comments] I really appreciate the support from ownership and the plan to have us both back," Zaidi said, according to an NBC Sports Bay Area transcript. "Right now our focus is getting through these last few games, finishing strong, finishing at .500. I think we all just have to look at how we can improve across the board.

"That's the personnel on the roster, that's our culture in the clubhouse -- which I think when you're playing well, certain things culturally are portrayed as, 'Hey this group loves being together, they're having fun.' But when you're not doing well those things can be seen in a negative light."

Some Giants players recently told The Athletic about their attempts to refocus the clubhouse, including trying to get players focused on their preparation rather than their card games. They also noted that the Giants had taken to playing music after losses, an unusual development by their accounts. 

Zaidi, for his part, added that the Giants have to look at "everything" and concluded his answer with the following: "I think we're really going to have to ask ourselves if we were prepared to sort of elevate our level of focus and play for those games that really mattered down the stretch."

The absence of a definitive answer is not always itself a definitive answer, especially in this era of trite executive patter. Yet if you strip away whatever preconceived notions and prior knowledge you have about the situation, it's hard to read Zaidi's meandering answer as a vote of confidence in Kapler.  

There's another dynamic worth noting here, and it's that both Zaidi and Kapler's deals run through the end of next season. Teams generally try to avoid lame-duck situations, oftentimes resulting in a change or an extension before the clock runs out. Zaidi might see unhitching himself from Kapler and hiring a new skipper as the best way forward -- for the Giants, and for his own chances of fetching a new deal.

The Giants enter Friday with a 78-81 record, putting them in fourth place in the National League West. They're 295-248 (54.3% winning percentage) under Kapler's guidance, though they've essentially played .500 ball outside of their 107-win campaign in 2021.