Before Chase Utley ultimately decided to return to the Los Angeles Dodgers for the 2018 season, there were mixed reports about whether the Phillies had interest in interviewing their franchise icon to be Gabe Kapler’s bench coach. Though it doesn’t appear Utley would have been especially interested in jumping straight from playing to coaching, Kapler’s analytically-driven approach wouldn’t have turned Utley off.
Utley, who hasn’t been on the Los Angeles Dodgers active roster at all this postseason, has likely played the final game in his illustrious 16-year career. The final three-and-a-half seasons of that career were spent playing for his hometown Dodgers, where Kapler served as the director of player development from November 2014 until being tabbed as the Phillies manager in October of 2017.