

Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Farhan Zaidi may as well have name-dropped Gabe Kapler directly.

“There’s a lot of guys that have done it before and there’s a learning curve each time you do it,” the Giants president of baseball operations said at his end-of-season news conference as he talked about the team’s next manager. “Some guys are better their second time around.”

Zaidi certainly would hope so.

Kapler has made the second round of interviews to become the Giants’ next manager, according to Craig Mish of Fantasy Sports Radio. He becomes the second known candidate still in the mix, as Astros bench coach Joe Espada is expected to meet again with San Francisco after the World Series concludes.

Kapler is the lone reported candidate who has big-league managerial experience, having spent his past two seasons in Philadelphia, where he was 161-163 before being fired after this playoff-less season.

Kapler is regarded as a unique personality that the Phillies had to get used to, and Zaidi is reputed to be a big fan. Kapler was the runner-up when Zaidi’s Dodgers settled on Dave Roberts for manager. It would have been an upset if Kapler hadn’t made the second round for the Giants job.