Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section 415 email newsletter here and subscribe to the Section 415 podcast wherever you listen.
Tony Vitello wouldn’t be the Giants’ manager right now if he was a perpetually low-profile guy, if he wasn’t so gregarious, and if he always eluded the media lights and responsibilities.
The random chaos of the winter meetings, though, can make anybody shrink away a bit. Especially in Vitello’s first time through these proceedings, a few months after he was hired by Buster Posey directly from college coaching with zero MLB experience.
“Downstairs or in the lobby, it’s been a little bit more of almost … I find myself keeping my head down,” Vitello said on my podcast Tuesday from the meetings in Orlando. “I’m new to all this, so don’t want to take up too much space or say too much.
“But in the room, we’ve been meeting in a suite with all the Giants reps. It’s been a really inviting environment as far as just everybody speaking up on any topic or any player. We’ve been conducting a lot of business in a way I think is very informal and collaborations at a high level.”
Vitello has been a voice in the room and he can also read it — he made sure to mention the good vibes emanating from the mini-celebrations that have dotted the Giants’ time at these meetings, starting with Jeff Kent’s surprising Hall of Fame election and including league-wide awards announced for public-relations chief Matt Chisholm and clubhouse guys Brad Grems (home) and Gavin Cuddie (visiting team).
“High standards for the Giants,” Vitello said. “It validates what I thought when I first got hired. I was just like, ‘Well, this guy’s a superstar,’ and then I’d meet somebody else and say, ‘This lady’s incredible, her energy and how organized she is.’ …
“I’m glad I don’t have to recalibrate my opinion on folks. We truly are surrounded by some superstars.”
This is a hint about how Vitello will approach leading this roster through 162 games. He’s going to read the room. He’s going to try to understand and speak about everybody’s strengths, then get everybody moving in the same direction, if possible.
Maybe it’ll bust the Giants out of their four-year run of extremely mediocre baseball. Or maybe it’ll make it worse. That’s the grand experiment here.
But it’s becoming quite clear that the Vitello Era will be interesting, that players will be encouraged to show their personalities, and that the energy levels will be amped up high.
Vitello’s Tennessee teams had a reputation for playing with intensity, passion, and emotion. | Source: Wesley Hitt/Getty Images
“They need to be comfortable in their own skin,” Vitello said when asked what he encouraged from his Tennessee players and what he wants to see from the Giants now. “And what kind of spun out of that was a lot of personality and a lot of moments that were well-liked. (Also), a lot of moments where you didn’t see it, but behind the scenes I had to correct behavior and tell (Volunteer star and 2025 fifth overall pick) Liam Doyle, like, this is not a bar fight, this is a baseball game.
“But I would rather have guys playing too hard or showing too much emotion than not enough. I mean, the World Baseball Classic is one where there’s probably several moments where it’s like, well, that got too heated or that got outta hand, but I’ll tell you what, that’s entertaining baseball.
Today
4 days ago
Tuesday, Dec. 2
“And you would never doubt that those guys are playing hard or that it means a lot to ‘em.”
Is that enough to chase down the two-time defending champion Dodgers — who just added the top closer on the free-agent market, Edwin Diaz, on Tuesday? Well, it’s probably not healthy to get too focused on the latest addition by the team in blue.
Vitello will have to overcome the Dodgers at some point to be remembered as a successful Giants manager, but he’s just starting. He’s meeting his new players. He’s figuring out what the roster will look like when Posey and general manager Zack Minasian are done this offseason.
The practical and healthy focus: Just to win as many games as the Giants can, preferably many more the 81, 79, 80, and 81 totals of the last four years, respectively.
“How can we become the very best version of who we are?” Vitello said. “Now that the season’s over and I wasn’t a part of it, so nobody slashed my tires … 81-81 is kind of a fun number.
“You are sitting literally right at .500 and right at a breaking point where if you’re worse, it’s incredibly disappointing and you literally are labeled a losing team. And if you just teeter a little bit towards the other direction, not only are you a winning team, but you’re pretty dang close to the playoffs.”
Vitello joined Giants’ president of baseball operations Buster Posey, left, and Zack Minasian at his introductory news conference in October. | Source: Amber Pietz/The Standard
Here are some other highlights from our conversation …
• Vitello tried to recruit Bryce Eldridge as a Virginia high schooler to Tennessee back in 2023 before Eldridge declared for the draft and was taken in the first round by the Giants. And now, after the organization’s No. 1 prospect got a brief look with the big-league team at the end of last season, Vitello certainly isn’t starting his evaluation from scratch.
“He’s clearly got skill, but I think one of the reasons he’s so highly thought of in the organization is one of the reasons we were so excited about him (at Tennessee) and thought maybe he would turn down the draft is he is a kid of strong value and strong character,” Vitello said.
That doesn’t sound like a manager who expects Eldridge to be traded soon. It’s unknown what Posey will decide to do with the 21-year-old slugger who, as a left-handed, first-base/designated hitter, overlaps with Rafael Defers. If the Giants need to put a valuable piece into the trade market to land a quality starting pitcher behind Logan Webb, it’d almost have to be Eldridge.
But again, it doesn’t seem like Vitello is expecting that. When I asked if Eldridge can play first base at a major-league level, Vitello pointed out that he doesn’t have a lot of experience there and has tons of room to grow.
“I think the thing you have to do is, again, backtrack to the foundation — he was a outstanding pitcher (in high school),” Vitello said. “So that took away from a lot of reps. … The other thing is he’s not exactly from Texas or Arizona or Southern California (where high-schoolers can play almost year-round). He has not played a lot of baseball.”
• Vitello and the Giants haven’t formally announced his full coaching staff yet, but most of it has been assembled — including the great Ron Washington and Vitello’s old friend, former Padres manager Jayce Tingler.
The emphasis, Vitello said, was on putting together a wide-ranging group that would be comfortable together.
“A lot of my input was, ‘When I come to work, I want be excited about it and want to have fun,’” Vitello said. “And certainly, in a first-year situation like this, where criticism’s gonna probably come at a high level, like it or not, you want to have a loyal group around you.
“So a lot of it was just like, who would I want to go get something to eat with? Who do I want to hang out with in the office extra time? Who’s gonna be in the dugout after a tough loss you don’t mind being around and going back into battle with the next day.”
Vitello said it was also very important, given his MLB experience, to have several former managers (Washington and Tingler) on his bench
• Posey has mentioned several times he’d like to see the Giants put the ball in play more often — the way Toronto did on its way to almost knocking off the Dodgers in the World Series. Vitello said that’s definitely an area of emphasis this offseason, along with a few others.
“It’s just an area to improve upon, if you will,” Vitello said. “Base running’s come up as well. Outfield-play defensively has come up as well.”
• Posey asked Bruce Bochy (who visited Vitello in person) and Dusty Baker (by phone) to talk with Vitello during the hiring process. I asked Vitello: Were these talks more of an interview situation or an oh-my-I-just-talking-with-a-legend situation?
“It was more of hang up the phone, call somebody and say, ‘Holy shoot, you won’t believe who I just talked to’ —that was literally the immediate follow up to talking with Dusty,” Vitello said. “I don’t know if I should admit that or not, but visiting with him was just an honor in general, but then it was real educational and for me it was more about just asking some questions and, and trying to learn.
“And then doing the same with Boch was great, but even better because I got to hang out with him in person and we met up and my parents were with me and how kind he was to my family, kind of overshadowed everything that was baseball talk. But the baseball talk was pretty special as well.”
Bruce Bochy, left, returned to the Giants this offseason as a special advisor to Posey. | Source: Tony Avelar
• Vitello said he hasn’t had a chance to talk with Joe Maddon about the longtime former manager’s comment on KNBR that Vitello’s hiring was “insulting” to all the people who have gone through the ranks in professional baseball.
“No, I haven’t,” Vitello said. “But if I did, I would say thank you. One of the best moments I’ve ever had in my life was going to Game 7 of the World Series when the Cubs won (under Maddon in 2016). My dad is from Chicago … for that pinnacle moment to happen and for us to be there in person. And I think Joe was incredibly instrumental with that group …
“I think he was defending his peer group more than he was attacking me; and even if he was attacking me, I think if we did get to have that conversation, he would be appreciative of how I’ve looked at him as a coach and the things I’ve said about him and the examples we’ve used of him to coach our team at Tennessee, I think would be pretty cool for him to hear.”