Los Angeles Dodgers: Gabe Kapler’s Job in Philly Jeopardy After Latest Report

Philadelphia Phillies manager Gabe Kapler is having the worst offseason because of what he did (or didn’t do) while with the Los Angeles Dodgers front office.

On Friday, the Washington Post published a damaging story that involves Philadelphia Phillies manager Gabe Kapler. This is the second major story published since October that involves Kapler in his time as the director of player development with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

At some point, you have to question whether the Phillies will want to continue taking on bad press for their rookie manager, especially since these incidents took place while he was with another organization.

Now, according to the most recent report, while serving as the director of player development with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2015, Kapler failed to notify the authorities of an alleged assault of a 17-year-old girl involving two minor league players.

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The report details how the unidentified 17-year-old girl accompanied two other women to the hotel room of two minor league players near the Los Angeles Dodgers spring training complex in Glendale, Arizona. There, the girl had been given so much vodka, that she began to throw up.

Instead of helping the young the girl, the two women proceeded to beat her up while the two minor leaguers filmed the entire incident for Snapchat.

Following the incident, the 17-year-old girl and her grandmother contacted Gabe Kapler via email, according to the Washington Post report. “The boys got me drunk and the girls beat me up,” she wrote. “Your player . . . videotaped it all.”

No one in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization, including Gabe Kapler, reported the incident to the police. Instead, Kapler tried to arrange a dinner with the girl, her grandmother, and the two minor leaguers in question.

Later, the 17-year-old girl’s case manager with Arizona’s Department of Child Safety reported the incident to the police. This time, the girl offered a more disturbing account of the incident.

Apparently, before the two women decided to beat the girl up, per the Washington Post, “the girl told police, one of the Dodgers players had sexually assaulted her as she lay on the bed, struggling to remain conscious.”

Following the report, Gabe Kapler issued a statement outlining his full understanding of the event. In referring back to specific interactions between he and the parties in question, Kapler said that at the time, “none of these accounts involved any sexual assault allegations.”

According to the Washington Post, Kapler believed “his actions were in line with club policy and advice offered by Dodgers’ lawyers and human resources personnel.”

This isn’t the first time Kapler actions (or inactions) in his time with the Los Angeles Dodgers has come into question.

Last October, Sports Illustrated reported that Kapler was named in a “thick dossier of documentation” obtained by the FBI that spurred an investigation into MLB’s recruitment of foreign players. In this incident, however, Kapler did not have a comment for SI.

Under Kapler, in 2018 the Philadelphia Phillies won 82 games, vastly improving from the previous year. This season, the Phillies are fully intending to contend and fully backed their guy, Kapler.

However, in baseball, three strikes gets you out and Kapler is operating with an 0-2 count. He better hope there isn’t a strike three out there waiting to get him.