How new Giants manager Tony Vitello is getting up to speed with team’s roster originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO — The second question of Tony Vitello’s media availability at the MLB Winter Meetings was about which manager he hopes to get to know as he makes the transition from Tennessee to leading the Giants. Vitello didn’t hesitate to mention Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy.
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Murphy, a two-time Manager of the Year, already had relayed some advice to Vitello through the Andersons. Frank Anderson, who coached with Vitello at Tennessee and will be on his staff in San Francisco, has known Murphy for years, and his son, Brett, finished his career in Milwaukee.
“I haven’t seen him yet,” Vitello said of Murphy. “It’s been busy.”
Twenty minutes later, Vitello walked out of the conference room at the Signia by Hilton and ran right into Murphy. The two talked for several minutes, and in the middle of their conversation, Dusty Baker joined.
Vitello joked on Tuesday that he didn’t “know what I’m doing at this thing, to be honest with you,” but in Orlando, he found plenty willing to help. Several current MLB managers went out of their way to approach and introduce themselves after interviews and meetings. They all will be competing in a few months, but right now, Vitello is being welcomed into a new community.
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The Winter Meetings made it easy to meet other managers. Aside from simply running into one another at times, there were several events where all 30 attended, and one where they took a group picture. Meeting his own players before pitchers and catchers report will take a bit more effort.
Vitello plans to fly to the Dominican Republic this week and then visit South Korea in January, trips that he hopes will allow him to spend quality time with Willy Adames, Rafael Devers and Jung Hoo Lee, while also meeting others in the organization and seeing some Giants facilities.
Vitello basically came straight from Tennessee practices to Oracle Park in October, and other than former Volunteers Drew Gilbert and Blade Tidwell, along with others he unsuccessfully recruited — Bryce Eldridge, Sam Hentges, etc. — he does not have a lot of experience with the current roster. He said getting time with his stars since that press conference has not been as easy as outsiders might think. There’s a reason for that.
“I know the coaching candidates very, very well, either the ones we’ve hired or the ones we’ve considered,” Vitello said. “That became an all-out project on top of some other things that came with this unique transition from the program I was very much a part of to now.”
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“So the biggest thing has been that staff.”
The entire staff finally got together on Wednesday, having dinner at an Italian restaurant in the hotel hosting the Winter Meetings. While there has been a delay in announcing it because some exact responsibilities are still being finalized, everyone is under contract and the work on 2026 already has started.
There are a lot of ways in which Vitello’s first year will be unique, and his relationship with his roster is near the top of the list. Just about every first-year manager has a pretty good baseline of MLB knowledge because most were big leaguers themselves or spent years as a bench coach or hitting coach.
Vitello has coached quite a few current MLB stars and against just about every big name to come out of the college game in recent years, but he is playing catchup when it comes to learning the division and his own roster, which is understandable.
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It would have been unreasonable to expect Vitello to be watching Giants-Diamondbacks games in September when he was running a college program. But he did start following the organization more closely after Gilbert and Tidwell were traded over in July.
Gilbert spent the weeks after the Vitello hire talking to some of his teammates about what to expect. The manager has exchanged plenty of text messages and calls, but said he’s looking forward to really diving in before they all gather in Scottsdale in February.
Vitello said he has tried to be a little “guarded” early on, knowing that they’re all about to spend every day together for eight-plus months and there’s no value in jumping to conclusions now. But he kept his ears open in the suite at the Winter Meetings, listening closely to the information others were giving about Logan Webb, Matt Chapman and others.
“It would be great if I exchanged 25 more text messages than Chappy and I have, or we’ve yet to hook up in person, but nothing is going to be like being in Spring Training and being around somebody every day.”
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The trips over the next couple of months will accelerate that process. They also will check off some destinations for a man who considers travel to be one of his biggest passions other than baseball.
“It’s fun to experience different cultures and get to meet different people and understand where they’re coming from and maybe you learn something that you make a part of your own life,” Vitello said. “I’m kind of as excited about that as anything. We’ll go to a couple places, either as a staff or I’ll go on my own, to visit with some of these players.
“Part of it is work, and part of it is me stealing a free trip to go see a new place because I truly kind of enjoy that.”
