Gabe Kapler is entering his first season as the Phillies manager. (Frank Klose/SportsTalkPhilly)
By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Philadelphia Phillies all-time hits leader Jimmy Rollins is never shy to share his opinions. At this past Sunday's Phillies Alumni Day at Spring Training, Rollins appeared and took a heavily-shared picture with Kapler. And when asked, as he often has done before Phillies seasons, Rollins shared his unfiltered opinion on the Phillies new skipper.
Rollins, speaking to Matt Breen of The Philadelphia Inquirer, had an interesting take on Kapler's intensity, even comparing him to Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden:
"I haven’t seen him as a manager but as a player, everything he did was so serious,” Rollins said. “It’s not like he doesn’t have a personality, but it’s kind of like that Jon Gruden, how everything he does and his eyes were like this, even when he’s happy. That’s just who he is. Some people are made like that and that’s what makes him tick. Hopefully, the players aren’t intimidated by that, because you never want to be intimidated by your manager. But that translates onto the field with the type of team that he wants and the type of style that he wants played. Hopefully, that translates onto the field into the right way.”
Gruden is an interesting person to compare Kapler to. On one hand, Gruden's intensity helped the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to win Super Bowl XXXVII. On the other hand, there were a lot of moving parts to that. Gruden was only in his first year in Tampa Bay when the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl. It's a hell of an accomplishment to win the Super Bowl with Brad Johnson at quarterback, but Warren Sapp and the Tampa 2 defense built under Gruden's predecessor, Tony Dungy, were a large reason for the Buccaneers winning a title. The Buccaneers also beat the Raiders, who Gruden had been the head coach of the four previous seasons.
After a nine-year stint as a color commentator for ESPN on Monday Night Football, Gruden is back for a second go-round as the Raiders head coach. Sure, his intensity worked in the early 2000s. As I'm sure you are aware, the world in 2018 is a little bit different than it was in the early 2000s. On top of the fact that Gruden hasn't been a head coach for nearly a decade and that his teams went 45-51 in his last six seasons as a head coach, it's fair to wonder if modern athletes won't get worn down by Gruden's seriousness.
That's one of the tasks facing Kapler: how does he channel his intensity so that it's effective, but also doesn't leave him with a shelf-life? One baseball source wasn't sure, when speaking to SportsTalkPhilly.com this offseason, that Kapler will be able to do that. "His sweet-spot is doing a television gig, not leading people."
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Gruden, despite having had success in the NFL nearly two decades ago, will have to prove in 2018 that he's best suited to be a coach, rather than playing one on television. In his first major league managing experience, Kapler's task isn't that different from Gruden's. So far, so good. The Phillies appear to be brimming with confidence in Kapler's first Spring Training at the helm, as Aaron Nola, Pat Neshek and J.P. Crawford are among those to suggest that the club is closer to competing than the public may believe.
In saying "hopefully, the players aren't intimidated by that," Rollins sounds cautiously optimistic about Kapler. He did tell Breen that Kapler's analytical background make him "the right guy" to manage the team in 2018. Still, Rollins' cautious optimism is noteworthy. Rollins has done guest appearances at FS1, where Kapler worked during the 2013 season. He played for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2015, Kapler's second season as the team's director of player personnel. The two played against each other during their careers. Rollins probably is as qualified, or maybe even more qualified, to have an opinion on Kapler than anyone in Philadelphia.
