Buster Posey could end up with egg on his face if Tony Vitello talks fall through

With the big news breaking that the SF Giants are reportedly "closing in" on Tony Vitello as their next manager, it is important to recognize that this is not a done deal and has the potential to blow up in Buster Posey's face.

The report from The Athletic dropped on Saturday and upended the team's search for a new manager. Nick Hundley was reportedly Posey's first choice to be the next Giants manager, but after he dropped out of the running it seems the Giants turned all of their attention to Vitello.

Buster Posey could have egg on his face if deal with Tony Vitello does not materialize

However, now that this report has dropped the Giants are in a very precarious position. Vitello has reportedly said that "nothing is done" yet so this is not set in stone.

Jeff Passan of ESPN reported that the next few days will be critical to see if a deal can be reached. Vitello has a lucrative contract with the University of Tennessee so the Giants would have to make a pretty handsome offer to lure him away from the situation that he has there.

The Giants are in a tough situation now because if they cannot work out a deal with Vitello, it is going to seem like he rebuffed the Giants and maybe just even used them as leverage to try to get more money from the University of Tennessee. That puts the Giants in a tough negotiating spot now that all of this has spilled out into the public eye.

If that happens, then it will look like Posey's top two choices for the job both turned him down which is not exactly a great look and may concern other potential candidates for the job.

Even if the Giants do work something out with Vitello, it is an extremely high-risk hire. He has no experience either as a player or coach in professional baseball and while the success he has had with the Volunteers is commendable, it is not at all clear how that success might translate to the big league level.

Either way, Posey and the front office are taking on a lot of risk by getting this heavily involved with Vitello. Either he embarrasses them in a very public way by not taking the job or he accepts the job and invites a ton of scrutiny if things do not go as planned.

Maybe that is the kind of risk Posey feels like he has to take to get the Giants to the next level, but it is one heck of a gamble and could certainly result in Posey having egg on his face.