Anonymous Phillies player says Gabe Kapler needs to “get out of the way.”

A manager is never going to be popular with all his players, but it took five disappointing games of the 2018 season for the first Phillies player to come out with a negative comment about his new skipper, Gabe Kapler.

There have been a number of decisions by Kapler that have backfired spectacularly in the early going—removing Aaron Nola early, the parade of relief pitchers, calling for Hoby Milner before he’d had a chance to warm up (although this sounds more like an error by some of his coaches), a defensive shift in the infield that cost the Phils a double play in New York that led to a run, and another defensive shift, this time in the outfield, that put New York ahead for good yesterday—all of them directly resulted in losses.

Fans are understandably upset at Kapler’s string of bad luck and/or bad execution, but until now, the players had all appeared to be behind their manager.

It now seems as if maybe even they have some doubts.

“We’ll be OK … We just need the manager to get out of the way,” one Phillies player asserted of their obviously improved team, and just as obviously unproven manager.

That comment, contained in today’s piece from Fanrag’s Jon Heyman, indicates that all may not be well inside the locker room.

Kapler certainly deserves more than five games before a legacy is cemented, but it’s one thing for the fans to turn on him early. It’s more dangerous for his job security when that sentiment is being uttered by a player to a national reporter.

No doubt, Kapler has a lot to prove moving forward, both to the fans, and his own players.