SF Giants will spend an absurd amount of money on managers in 2026

The SF Giants have their new manager in Tony Vitello. He is set to see a slight pay increase from what he was making at the University of Tennessee, but the Giants are still going to be paying an absurd amount of money on managers in 2026.

Vitello will make $3.5 million per year as the manager of the Giants which is a bump up from the $3 million per year he made at Tennessee. However, the Giants had to pay the University of Tennessee $3 million to buy Vitello out of his contract and they will still have to pay his predecessor Bob Melvin $4 million after exercising his contract option last season.

That means the Giants will be spending $10.5 million on managers in 2026 which is a heck of a lot of money. By comparison, the Chicago Cubs are paying Craig Counsell $8 million per year to be their manager.

SF Giants are spending a fortune on managers in 2026

The Vitello hire is risky for a number of reasons and the financial component is just one part of that. Clearly, president of baseball operations Buster Posey believes he has found the right guy otherwise the team would not have taken such drastic steps to get rid of Melvin and replace him with a guy who is a lot more expensive than one would have anticipated for a coach coming straight from college.

Obviously, no matter how good a manager is they will be somewhat limited by the resources at their disposal on the roster. Vitello's comment at his opening presser that the Giants roster as currently constructed is "pretty good" is a subtle reminder that there is a good amount of work to be done to improve the team's roster going into next season.

Posey is putting a ton of faith in Vitello. If the Giants fail to show meaningful improvement and either make the playoffs or at least do better than the perennial around .500 mark they have set the last four seasons, then the criticism will be fierce.

However, if the Giants do improve and the different energy that Vitello brings to the table does end up helping the team then Posey will look like a genius and the $10.5 million spent on managers will look like nothing.

Still, it is somewhat remarkable that the Giants are taking such a big and costly risk on this hire. Key players on the team are excited by the hire, so maybe this big shakeup is what was needed.