The Giants made an official decision on Tony Vitello’s future, then the next day the former Vols coach called out his team in a loud way
It was a whirlwind weekend for former Tennessee Vols baseball coach Tony Vitello.
It was quite a weekend for San Francisco Giants manager Tony Vitello.
Things started on a good note when Giants President of Baseball Operations Buster Posey confirmed that Vitello will return as the team’s manager next season.
That was expected based on comments Posey made recently to The Athletic.
So that’s the good news for the former Tennessee Vols baseball coach.
The bad news is that the Giants are still a total mess.
They’re such a mess, in fact, that Vitello said they looked like a junior college team on Sunday after a sloppy performance against the woeful Colorado Rockies.
It was so rough that Vitello called a team meeting after the 13-7 loss.
“It had more the feel of a lower level, a junior-college game as opposed to a big-league game, with how some of the things transpired,” said Vitello. “And I was a JuCo guy, so I’m not disrespecting junior college.”
“I mean, people paid money to sit through that,” added Vitello. “And other people … Wash (infield coach Ron Washington) had to sit through that. And so, might as well sit through a meeting. I don’t know that anything genius was said, and there’s no point in putting on a tirade. … It’s about today, and it’s not about any one person or any one loss, but it’s more about a theme…of clean baseball.”
Former Tennessee RHP Blade Tidwell, who was responsible for five of the 10 walks issued by Giants pitchers, said that Vitello did a good job with the postgame message to the team.
“I think he did a good job,” said Tidwell. “Everybody was locked in, and the guys were nodding their heads and stuff. I think everybody was on board with what he was saying.”
Maybe this will be a turning point for Vitello in San Francisco. Maybe hitting rock bottom will allow Vitello to be the best version of himself — the version where he doesn’t worry about being accepted by big-leaguers and he’s just Tony V.
The Giants get an off day before traveling to Cleveland for a matchup against the Guardians on Tuesday.
