Gabe Kapler may be headed back to the west coast. The now former Phillies manager will interview to be the next manager of the San Francisco Giants. Kapler has an “in” with the organization, which has Farhan Zaidi as their president of baseball operations. Zaidi and Kapler were both members of the Dodgers organization, where Kapler served as the director of player development prior to being named the manager of the Phillies. Zaidi reportedly recommended Kapler for the Phillies job two years ago.

The Giants have internal candidates in third base coach Ron Wotus and bench coach Hensley Meulens on their list of candidates. They also are going to interview Royals quality control/catching coach Pedro Grifol and A’s quality control coach Mark Kotsay. It’s thought that Zaidi wants to interview around a half-dozen candidates for the position that opened with the retirement of Bruce Bochy. At this point, Kapler is the only candidate with major league managing experience.

Kapler is thought to want to quickly return to managing and there are currently seven other jobs in addition to the Phillies position, which are open. The Angels, Cubs, Giants, Mets, Padres, Pirates and Royals all have openings. Thus far, Kapler has not been formally mentioned as a candidate for any of the other positions.