Tony Vitello subtly deflects blame to front office for SF Giants' awful 3B coach hire

With the SF Giants currently 12 games under .500, many would think the manager would be the member of the coaching staff taking the bulk of the heat from fans. That hasn’t been the case though as not too many are blaming Tony Vitello solely for the teams woes, yet third base coach Hector Borg has been drawing the ire of fans for much of the season.

Vitello was recently asked during an appearance on KNBR about Borg, who has made a number of questionable sends and holds as third base coach this season, and he subtly distanced himself from that hire in his response:

“During the meetings we had at Oracle Park his name came up as a guy down in the organization who some would truly be disappointed if for some reason he bounced to another organization…The first time I was able to meet him in person was in spring training.”

This answer obviously shows that Borg was not a guy Vitello had any familiarity with. His hiring likely came more from the front office and while Vitello obviously didn’t completely throw anyone under the bus in his answer, reading between the lines makes it seem like he was at least somewhat deflecting blame.

The timing of this is interesting because recently Giants general manager Zack Minasian made comments that some interpreted as throwing Vitello under the bus for the team’s handling of prospect Bryce Eldridge.

Minasian said to Jim Bowden of The Athletic: “We are all in this together but the lineup decisions and construction is Tony’s call.”

Our own Jeff Young delved into why this was not a great look for Minasian and had the feel of a guy who sees the writing on the wall and is already thinking about his next job.

Perhaps Vitello’s answer on Borg was his way of returning the favor by making it pretty clear that it was not his idea to hire a guy who has turned out to be a pretty bad third base coach.

Vitello may not have felt emboldened to veto coaching staff choices made by front office

It’s interesting to think of how the coaching staff under Vitello was constructed. Obviously it was a collaborative process and Vitello seemed to have the final say, but as a guy coming straight from the college ranks he probably didn’t feel confident enough to veto candidates who Minasian or president of baseball operations Buster Posey were fond of.

Vitello certainly was able to hire some of his own guys as Frank Anderson and Quinn Eberhardt joined him from the University of Tennessee. But it’s also worth remembering how long it took for the Giants to finalize the coaching staff before the season so maybe there was more internal strife than we were led to believe.

We’ll see if the Giants make any change at third base coach. Ron Wotus is a glaringly obvious solution so maybe at some point the Giants will pull the plug on him and go with a guy who is beloved and trusted by Giants fans and has decades of experience with the organization. 

But these seemingly subtle snipes between Minasian and Vitello are worth keeping an eye on especially if this season somehow goes even further off the rails.

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