Tony Vitello seems to have been Buster Posey’s second choice for SF Giants job

With the news coming out that the SF Giants are looking to hire Tony Vitello for their managerial opening, it seems that the University of Tennessee head coach was the second choice of president of baseball operations Buster Posey. 

By all accounts, Nick Hundley was the front runner and favorite for the job prior to Vitello emerging as the candidate the Giants were looking to hire. Apparently, Hundley backed out of the running for the job due to family reasons since he has young children.

Hundley seems like he was Buster Posey's first choice for SF Giants manager job

In the story from The Athletic that initially reported that Vitello was the candidate the Giants were focusing on, they reported that Hundley is expected to stay in his front office job with the Texas Rangers. A story by the San Francisco Chronicle speculated that the manager opening in San Diego may present a better opportunity for Hundley if family is his biggest concern. 

However, what all of this seems to suggest is that Vitello was Posey’s second choice after Hundley. All of the reporting suggested that Hundley was the guy Posey wanted. The two were teammates together on the Giants and are good friends so it seemed like a good fit especially since Hundley represented a younger option than his predecessor Bob Melvin. 

Once Hundley decided he no longer wanted to be in the running, it seems the Giants pivoted to Vitello. The 47-year-old head coach at Tennessee was connected to the Giants towards the beginning of the search but that chatter died down pretty quickly as talk surrounding Hundley accelerated.

Both Hundley and Vitello are similar in that they are younger candidates with no managerial experience who would mainly provide an energy shift in the clubhouse after the more reserved and muted energy that Melvin brought to the table. If those were Posey’s top two choices, it seems his priority with this hire was to shake things up and give the clubhouse a jolt of energy. 

Vitello as the next manager is not a done deal, though. Jeff Passan of ESPN has reported that the next few days will be critical as they try to work out a deal and there is reporting that the University of Tennessee is going to make a concerted effort to hold onto Vitello.

If a deal is worked out and he does become the next manager of the Giants, it would certainly represent a big gamble by Posey. Bringing in a guy with no big league experience, either as a player or coach, would be taking a big swing but we know Posey likes to take risks.

Even if Vitello may not have been Posey’s first choice, he represents the same thing hiring Hundley would have accomplished which is a generational and energy shift in the manager role.