The San Francisco Giants’ decision to trade catcher Patrick Bailey sent a loud message about their longterm view of Tony Vitello
The San Francisco Giants made a surprising move recently by trading Gold Glove catch Patrick Bailey to the Cleveland Guardians. The move sends a message about the franchise’s longterm view of manager Tony Vitello.
The San Francisco Giants seemingly sent a loud message about their longterm view of manager Tony Vitello with the recent decision to trade catcher Patrick Bailey.
Vitello, who was the head coach of the Tennessee Vols for eight seasons before taking over as the manager of the Giants, is off to an uneven start in the big leagues.
The Giants have one of the worst records in baseball through the first quarter of the season. And Vitello’s been subjected to some awkward moments with players and the media — though that was always going to be the case as Vitello adjusts to life in MLB and as players adjust to his unique style.
Still, those awkward moments and the lack of success have led to some folks wondering if Vitello is going to be one-and-done in MLB.
The decision to trade Bailey to the Cleveland Guardians, however, seems to signal that the franchise is all-in on Vitello longterm
It feels like the Giants picked Tony Vitello over Patrick Bailey
There are several reasons why San Francisco traded Bailey, who is arguably the best defensive catcher in the league.
One big reason is because Bailey isn’t a very productive hitter.
Bailey’s defense, however, is incredibly valuable. And considering how well the rest of the league respects his defense, I’m surprised that San Francisco wasn’t willing to live with the light bat — especially given the way he solidified his role with the Giants over the last few seasons.
It could be that San Francisco traded Bailey because he wasn’t totally on the same page as Vitello.
There were hints earlier this year that Bailey and Vitello weren’t going to mesh.
Before the season, there were rumblings that Vitello and the Giants may call pitches from the dugout, something that’s common in college baseball.
According to The San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser, Bailey was among those who didn’t embrace the idea of calling pitches from the dugout.
Bailey said he felt like allowing him to call pitches gave the Giants the best chance to win.
“No, I want to win games. I think I give us the best chance for that,” said Bailey to The San Francisco Chronicle. “If I can be convinced otherwise, I could be convinced otherwise, but I want to win as many games as possible. I think I give us the best chance.”
Bailey made similar comments to The Athletic in February when asked about calling pitches from the dugout.
“If you just want to look at a piece of paper and say, ‘0- 1 count, this guy sucks at this pitch, so we’re going to throw that pitch,’ you can definitely do that,” said Bailey. “But at the end of the day, I definitely value getting a feel for what the other team’s trying to do and go from there.”
In Bailey’s final game with the Giants, he appeared frustrated with signals he was receiving from the dugout.
There have been reports that Buster Posey, the Giants’ top decision maker, wasn’t happy with Bailey’s approach to the game (lack of offense, running a pitching staff).
All of these things probably factored into the decision. But it’s still a wild decision. Trading your starting catcher in early May isn’t something that you see happen in MLB very often.
The move was obviously made because Posey thinks it makes the Giants better in the long run.
But intentionally or not, it also sends the message after a rough first month of the season that this is Vitello’s team, and the Giants aren’t changing their mind on that anytime soon.