Gabe Kapler addressed the coconut in the room

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Update, Nov. 13, 2019: Gabe Kapler will be introduced this afternoon as the Giants' new manager. More here on what lessons Kapler should take from Philly to San Francisco.

“Coconut oil is a phrase,” Howard Eskin said while seemingly stumbling for the right words.

Most people wouldn't go there. Eskin did. He called it the "elephant in the room."

He said it at the press conference during which the Philadelphia Phillies introduced their new manager, Gabe Kapler.

He said it while attempting to ask a question directed at Kapler and team GM Matt Klentak about Kapler’s unique and interesting lifestyle website and whether it should raise any concerns.

The question, like the blog post, was a bit awkward.

But Kapler handled his first uncomfortable moment as the Phillies manager like a pro.

In case you are unfamiliar, we wrote about some of the out-there stuff on Kapler’s lifestyle website earlier in the week.

There’s an entry about coconut oil and it’s a little, well ... risqué.

Kapler took the question about whether he was proud of the content in stride and answered thoughtfully. 

“Much of what I have written is several years old,” Kapler said. “And when I was writing that I was in a different mindset than I am now as the manager of the Phillies. Even with that said, if you look through the various posts, there is some tongue-in-cheek stuff that I had directed at players to try and make them laugh. Thinking through it, there are some things I may have written a little differently. Certainly, we all make mistakes and miss the mark from time to time. If you go back and look at those posts, they were meant for health. They were meant to help people be more prepared and stronger. They are imperfect. I am imperfect. But I’m also very proud of a lot of the content that I would encourage people to go back and dig into and find the stuff that really does hit the mark.”

Anyone who has ever written anything that was published to the Internet probably has a thing or two they aren't exactly proud of. I thought the way Kapler handled the question was about as good as you could hope. If anything, as I wrote earlier in the week, it shows he's a unique thinker and not afraid to speak his mind.

Klentak added some thoughts of his own.

"As we try to move the needle here, as we try to move this organization forward here, there's an element of risk, new behaviors, trying new things and that's inevitable," Klentak said. "That's part of what we are excited about with Kap's arrival here."

More from Kapler's intoductory press conference here.

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