He might not yet be a household name in baseball managerial circles, but Gabe Kapler, who is not afraid to let it all hang out, could be the next Dodgers skipper.
Kapler, the 14-year MLB outfielder, has emerged as the early favorite to succeed manager Don Mattingly, the Los Angeles Times is reporting.
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If the Dodgers are looking for someone with some outside-the-box thinking, Kapler - the team's farm director in 2015, is their man.
"Already, Kapler has raised some eyebrows with the Dodgers," the Times reported. "He was responsible for introducing organic food and eliminating soda in the team's dining room at spring training, a move that was unpopular with veteran players.
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"Kapler also authors a blog about nutrition and fitness. In August, he used the platform to encourage baseball players to expose their private parts to sunlight as a method of increasing testosterone production."
Los Angeles has won three consecutive National League West titles but has faltered in October. The Dodgers lost in the NLCS to the Cardinals in 2013, the NLDS to the Cardinals in 2014 and the NLDS to the Mets this year. Maybe they could use some original thinking.
When Kapler retired as a player, Dodgers president Andrew Friedman offered him his first front-office position with the Rays.
Just as important, Kapler is open to using sabermetrics, a prerequisite of the Dodgers front office, The Times reports.
Of the search, Friedman told the Times, "I imagine it will be a very thorough process. My sense is that we'll have candidates who have prior managerial experience and others who don't.
"...Whatever we perceive to not be that person's strengths, we'll look to fill that in around him and figure out ways to help make it as well-rounded as possible,"
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