If Andrew Baggarly isn’t as close to an unimpeachable source when it comes to Giants rumors and breaking or near-breaking news, then no beat writer is. He mentioned Tennessee Volunteers coach Tony Vitello
as a possible replacement for Bob Melvin when this whole search began, and just moments ago on The Athletic, he, Brittany Ghiroli, and Ken Rosenthal posted an article that suggests Vitello will wind up being the 42nd manager in franchise history .
In between this surprise, there was talk of Bruce Bochy, Nick Hundley all but had the job before the Padres position became available (at least, this is me reading between the lines); and other catchers including Vance Wilson and Kurt Suzuki were interviewed while local medial clamored for the team to trade for former backup catcher and current Guardians manager Stephen Vogt. But Buster Posey wants someone who will be in the job for a while and grow into the position, and he seems to have a youthful energy the franchise sorely needs and in a package that doesn’t look and sound like Gabe Kapler.
Baggarly & co. talk up Vitello’s “dynamism and charisma” and suggest he’ll hit the ground running as a major league manager. Helping matters, supposedly, is that the Giants’ top pick in this past draft was a star infielder for Vitello. Maui Ahuna is already in the organization from a previous draft, and other Volunteers, Drew Gilbert & Blade Tidwell, just came over.
This is a big story to break, and one of the “industry sources” that Andrew Baggarly has had frequent contact with over the years, including before he moved from the field to the front office, is Buster Posey himself, so I feel that it’s solid reporting to go on to start thinking about this news being announced any day now. It’d be a heckuva swing and a fun experiment-but-not-really-an-experiment. The Giants need a shakeup, and hiring a fiery college coach with a successful track record isn’t so outside the box that it’s hard to imagine it not working. In fact, it’s just crazy enough to work.