{"id":474323,"date":"2026-02-17T18:45:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T18:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/474323\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T18:45:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T18:45:07","slug":"sf-giants-tony-vitello-stands-ground-following-mondays-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/474323\/","title":{"rendered":"SF Giants’ Tony Vitello stands ground following Monday’s comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona \u2014 Manager Tony Vitello began his media availability on Tuesday morning by addressing his contentious comments<\/a> on Monday regarding his departure from Tennessee.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you\u2019ve got to pick and choose your battles,\u201d Vitello said. \u201cAin\u2019t no big deal to me. You can\u2019t change the past, and no one\u2019s going to convince me otherwise that all that was inappropriate. I\u2019m worried about baseball. I\u2019m not worried about all that.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, all that (was) is a conversation we were having yesterday, which I would like to have with you all every day. \u2026 But, like I said, it doesn\u2019t change the fact that (Tennessee) has a good team over there under good leadership and I was very blessed to hook up with the winningest organization in MLB history, if you really want to do it by stats.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vitello began his availability on Monday with an unprompted airing of grievances that lasted about three minutes regarding how his final days as Tennessee\u2019s head coach unfolded.<\/p>\n

On Oct. 18 \u2014\u00a0four days before he was officially hired \u2014 The Athletic reported that the Giants were \u201cclosing in\u201d on Vitello as their 40th manager in franchise history. The report did not say that Vitello had actually been hired.<\/p>\n

When Vitello was informed that the initial report didn\u2019t actually say that San Francisco hadn\u2019t hired him yet, he responded by saying he\u2019s \u201cnot throwing this water bottle at anybody\u201d. He admitted he hadn\u2019t read any of that day\u2019s reporting.<\/p>\n

The rookie manager was then asked for clarification on one especially cryptic comment from Monday when he said, \u201cSomebody tweeted it out. I don\u2019t know who told them. I wish I did. It might\u2019ve changed the course of history if I would\u2019ve known who did, to be honest with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe how things were left,\u201d Vitello said on Tuesday of that comment. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t take what I say too seriously. I mean, we were talking about Lil Wayne yesterday. I think the facts of the case were what I just said. It\u2019s just that. Anybody else would react the exact same way. It has no real impact on the opportunity that was presented and it wouldn\u2019t have changed what Buster and I would have agreed and joined to do. Just happened to be circumstantial.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd like I said, when it affects the people \u2014 first off, myself, but then the people that I\u2019m around every day, too. It was less than ideal circumstances, but pretty ideal circumstances. \u2026 Hell, yesterday, I said I\u2019d pay good money to watch (Rafael) Devers and Robbie Ray hook it up for one at-bat if I was just outside the park and they\u2019d let me pay for entry.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Vitello said he didn\u2019t hear back from any players or front office members about his comments, adding that he didn\u2019t \u201csay anything surprising that I know of\u201d and \u201cwas just stating the facts.\u201d He didn\u2019t specify why he decided to air his grievances on Monday, only saying \u201cmaybe something brought it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlways better to get it off your chest than let it fester,\u201d Vitello said. \u201cAlthough everyone knows I\u2019m Italian, but I\u2019m also Irish so pretty good at burying it way deep down inside.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Vitello was asked if he considers himself to have thick skin, he responded by listing college coaches such as Augie Garrido and Dave Van Horn who have \u201cthicker skin than I do,\u201d but didn\u2019t directly answer the question. Vitello said the reason he doesn\u2019t read everything is partially by design, but also due to his busy schedule.<\/p>\n

MLBPA executive director expected to resign\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tony Clark, the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), is expected to resign, according to a report from The Athletic.<\/p>\n

Clark\u2019s departure comes about 10 months before Major League Baseball\u2019s collective bargaining agreement expires on Dec. 1 at 11:59 p.m. ET and kicks off what is expected to be an extended labor battle that could result in the loss of regular-season games.<\/p>\n

Clark, 53, and the union have been under federal investigation by the Eastern District of New York since last year regarding whether MLBPA officials have improperly used licensing money.<\/p>\n

Smith lands MiLB deal with Atlanta<\/p>\n

First baseman Dominic Smith, who played for the Giants last season, signed a one-year minor-league deal with the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

Smith, 30, signed a one-year major-league deal with San Francisco last June as part of Buster Posey\u2019s midseason roster shakeup<\/a>, one that saw LaMonte Wade Jr. designated for assignment.<\/p>\n

Over 63 games, Smith posted a .284\/.333\/.417 slash line with five homers, one of which landed in the San Francisco Bay for the 107th Splash Hit<\/a> in Oracle Park history.<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s last act as a Giant came on Sept. 12 when he injured his right hamstring while stretching to receive a throw from third baseman Matt Chapman, a sacrifice that helped San Francisco maintain a 1-0 lead in a crucial game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCOTTSDALE, Arizona \u2014 Manager Tony Vitello began his media availability on Tuesday morning by addressing his contentious comments…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[2356,363,2329,99],"class_list":["post-474323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-california","tag-mlb","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}