Gabe Kapler admits that he wasn't popular hire as Giants' next manager

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Appointing a new manager is a time for any sports team to celebrate. That wasn't the case for the Giants on Wednesday. 

Turning to Gabe Kapler as Bruce Bochy's successor was an unpopular decision with fans, to say the least. Open up Twitter and you won't see many positive responses regarding the Giants' new manager ever since the news was announced Tuesday night

It's not like Kapler doesn't know this, though. Kapler was asked Wednesday at his introductory press conference if he felt like he was starting his Giants tenure in a hole, and how much that matters to him.

"Yes, I feel like I'm in a little bit of a hole, and yes, that means something to me," Kapler said. "I think I'll just use it as an opportunity to roll up my sleeves a little bit more, to dig in a little bit more, to find out why I have had some of those issues and why I so far have not been a popular hire.

"And then, be responsible for those things."

Kapler was an unpopular choice to Giants fans for reasons other than just his baseball decisions, despite having a losing record in his two-year stint as the Phillies' manager.

The Washington Post reported in February a story of Kapler's mishandling of assault allegations from a 17-year-old girl against Dodgers minor leaguers that occurred in February 2015, when Kapler was the team's director of player development. Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi was the Dodgers' general manager at the time, too. 

The majority of Kapler's press conference dealt with questions regarding his and Zaidi's handling of the situation from 2015. The two spoke openly about how they handled the allegations and how they want to be better going forward. 

Kapler says his unpopularity to start his time in San Francisco will only inspire him to be better on and off the field.

[RELATED: How Kapler explained 'problem solving' in 2015 blog post]

"I don't think I know everything," Kapler said. "I don't think that I've made every perfect step. I've made a lot of mistakes. But I think one of those things that you'll find out about me is that I'm pretty good at making adjustments. So when I find out there's a reason that this maybe isn't the most popular hire, I want to know what those reasons are and I want to get better at them.

"I just dig in and roll up my sleeves and get to work."

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