The Giants’ 56-81 record is the fourth-worst in baseball, and their .409 winning percentage projects as their lowest in a season since their .395 mark (64-98) in 2017. It hasn’t at all been an ideal debut season for manger Tony Vitello, yet Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey made it clear that he isn’t laying much of the blame at Vitello’s door. Posey told both the San Francisco Standard’s John Shea and Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle that Vitello will be returning as the team’s manager next year.
The only way a managerial change is seemingly possible is if Vitello himself wanted out, yet the skipper told Slusser that “when you get somewhere, you always want to leave it better, and I’m personally willing to go through hell or high water to do that.” Likewise, Posey told the Chronicle that “I haven’t felt once in any conversation that we’ve had that there’s any thoughts about jumping ship. All of our conversations are future-oriented, like, ‘What do we have to do to get this right?’”
Furthermore, Posey said the Giants could retain their whole coaching staff, though that will be Vitello’s call. “It’s always a hard thing because people are like, ‘Well, you’re 25 games or whatever under, how can you say they did a nice job?’ But I’m watching them every day and the work that they’re putting in, some of the improvements that [players] are making,” Posey told Slusser. “From my vantage point, they’ve done a nice job. Ultimately, my belief is you leave it up to the manager to set it how he wants to set it. Those are conversations that we’ll have with Tony for the remainder of the year and into the offseason.”
It doesn’t come as any great surprise that Vitello is staying put, as he has $7MM remaining over the final two years of his initial three-year contract. Slusser notes that the money probably isn’t the largest factor, as if Vitello chose to return to coaching NCAA baseball, an agreement could easily be worked out between the Giants and Vitello’s new school to cover his remaining salary.
The greater issue would be the question of stability, as isn’t often that managers get shown the door after just one season. The Giants themselves have been looking for more continuity in the dugout following Bruce Bochy’s 13-season run in San Francisco. Bochy’s successor Gabe Kapler lasted just short of four seasons, and Bob Melvin just two seasons before he was fired.
Moving on from Vitello so soon would surely lead ownership to ask some questions about Posey’s own decision-making process. Beyond the uniqueness of Vitello being hired out of the college ranks to steward a Major League dugout, firing any manager after just one year would increase the heat on Posey, and make it harder for the Giants to attract other top managers who would (rightly) wonder how much job security they’d receive if hired.
Vitello had never played, coached, or managed at any level of pro baseball before being hired by the Giants last October. His career had been spent entirely at the collegiate level, working as an assistant coach for 15 seasons before being hired by the University of Tennessee to coach its baseball program. Vitello turned the Volunteers into a powerhouse program and a regular contender for the College World Series, and Tennessee won the national title in 2024.
The early returns on Vitello’s hiring in San Francisco haven’t been great, as the Giants’ record is the bottom line. In fairness to Vitello, however, he is far from the only manager to post a mediocre record in his first year on the job. Vitello was also working with an imperfect roster, as the front office didn’t do much last winter to address a rotation and bullpen that needed more than a few tweaks. This lack of pitching combined with down years from Matt Chapman and Willy Adames, plus the Giants were hit with a wave of injuries all across the roster.
Bay Area fans impatient for a contender surely aren’t happy about viewing 2026 as something of a learning-curve year for Vitello, but an adjustment period was inevitable given this unique jump from NCAA ball to the majors. A year of experience should help Vitello make some adjustments, and a clearer assessment could be made about Vitello and the organization as a whole in 2027 if Posey (and team ownership) make more substantive upgrades this offseason.
