SF Giants News: Vitello jokes about Devers incident, Posey dodges radio appearance

While there hasn’t been a ton for the SF Giants to smile about as of late, the mood was a little different after Wednesday night’s game in which the Giants won in walk-off fashion thanks to a Victor Bericoto home run. 

There were a couple of interesting news nuggets from last night and this morning that are worth diving into.

SF Giants news nuggets for Thursday, June 25

Vitello jokes about Devers incident

Manager Tony Vitello was in a bit of a joking mood during his presser last night and at the end of it he made light of the infamous incident between him and slugger Rafael Devers on Sunday when Devers tried to wave off pinch runner Jonah Cox.

Devers said he apologized to Vitello for the incident but claimed he wasn’t trying to show him up and also said the media blew it out of proportion. He said he thought the Giants were taking him out because of his recent injury. Vitello basically said it was water under the bridge when he was asked about it on Tuesday.

All was forgiven and forgotten, at least briefly, on Wednesday night when Devers blasted a home run in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game before Bericoto’s homer ended it a few batters later.

Vitello said: “I'd be remiss if I didn't say the best coaching moment of the night was we told Rafi if he got on first, we were going to pinch-run for him."

The assembled reporters didn’t give him much in the way of laughs but it was a pretty good joke. Maybe the coaching staff now knows that by threatening a pinch runner Devers is either going to hit a homer or strikeout.

We’ll see if there are any more incidents between Devers and Vitello, but at least on Wednesday Devers did something the Giants hoped he’d do when they acquired him last season even though the franchise’s fortunes have taken a huge slide since he became a Giant.

Posey backs out of KNBR appearance

Giants’ president of baseball operations Buster Posey had a contentious session with the media on Tuesday. He refused to answer any questions about the team’s Pride Night controversy after a very brief statement that didn’t really address the matter all that adequately.

It was a bit of a surprise when it was announced that Posey was set to appear on KNBR Thursday morning after how poorly that session with the media went. What good would him talking to the media again really do?

That’s why it wasn’t a huge shock when it was announced that team CEO Larry Baer would be the one appearing on KNBR Thursday morning instead of Posey. Baer is better equipped to handle tough questions on a sensitive issue and made a statement that basically amounted to him listing how the team has been at the forefront on LGBTQ issues going back to the 1990s while also affirming Oracle Park welcomes everyone which, while not much, is more than what Posey offered on Tuesday.

Posey has never been all that comfortable with the media. When he was a player he was always a man of few words and was very careful in what he said to the media so of course he’s the same way as an executive.

He can dodge a radio appearance that almost certainly would have gone poorly especially after his last KNBR appearance was not a great look for him, but he can’t avoid the media forever and he may need to be more forthcoming and honest if he wants to regain the trust of fans who are frustrated about the events of Pride Night and the results on the field.

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