Former MLB exec proposes bizarre hand-holding exercise for Tony Vitello, SF Giants

Seemingly everyone in baseball has an opinion on new SF Giants manager Tony Vitello and many, often against their better judgment, are unafraid to share those opinions. Add former MLB executive Jim Bowden to the list after he proposed a bizarre, infantilizing idea for the Giants to employ with Vitello.

Appearing on the Foul Territory show, Bowden criticized Vitello for several decisions he made in San Francisco's opening series against the New York Yankees. He took issue with Vitello's decision to leave Logan Webb in the opening game of the season even though he was struggling and he also did not like that the Giants pitched to Aaron Judge with a left-handed pitcher on the mound in the final game of that series.

Then, Bowden took things a step further and said that Vitello is embarrassing the Giants with his postgame comments. He said that he looks like a "deer in headlights" in the dugout and went on to propose that after each game Bruce Bochy and Dusty Baker, who are both advisers to the front office, should sit down with Vitello to go over his decisions in the previous game and make a plan for the next game while also going over his remarks to the media.

Jim Bowden proposes absurd idea for new SF Giants manager

What?

So, Bowden basically wants Bochy and Baker breathing down Vitello's neck after every game and micromanaging his every move? That's patently insane.

Vitello is lucky to have both of those guys, who should both be inducted into the Hall of Fame soon, in his corner to lean upon, alongside other former big-league managers like Jayce Tingler and Ron Washington who are in the dugout, but he has to be his own guy.

He's going to make mistakes and there are going to be growing pains, but that's part of being a manager. Bochy and Baker were both first-time managers at one point and they had to learn and grow on their own without anyone breathing down their neck telling them what to do.

Vitello is different, that's for sure. From getting a beer shower after his first win to dropping Kanye West quotes to reporters, he is far from a prototypical major-league skipper. But that's part of the reason the Giants brought him into the fold.

The Giants had a member of the old guard as manager the last two seasons in Bob Melvin and look what that got them: two more years of mediocrity.

Vitello is green and a bit goofy at times, but the energy he brings to the table is what president of baseball operations Buster Posey believed the team needed when he hired him. Vitello's honeymoon period is already over as Giants fans demand a winner, but he still deserves room to grow into the job.

Bochy and Baker are there for him to call upon if he needs advice, but Bowden's proposal of having them micromanage his every move is ridiculous and disrespectful to Vitello. Maybe there's a reason he's no longer an MLB executive.