- 5 weeks ago
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00:00I'm reminded every day, like I had a buddy on the text thread that is like, I mean, diehard Giants
00:07fans, diehard Giants fans.
00:09And I'm on my way to work today, and the text comes through to the thread.
00:13Hey, did anybody hear that Vitello thing yesterday?
00:16That was weird.
00:17It was amateur hour.
00:18He used the exact same line you did.
00:19Oh, funny.
00:20But it just dawned on me.
00:21I'm like, these are diehard Giants fans.
00:23They're just getting to that news.
00:26They're just getting there.
00:27Yep.
00:27So I don't want to go too deep into our conversation without playing both what he said yesterday and then
00:33what he followed up with today.
00:35So why don't we do that?
00:36Yeah, let's do it.
00:37Because Granny and I talked about this for about an hour yesterday.
00:40It was also a holiday.
00:41So some people, who knows?
00:43Yeah, I was off.
00:44Right.
00:44Maybe they were just off in family land or whatever.
00:47Great.
00:50But there's a lot here.
00:52There's a lot here.
00:53And Justice De Los Santos, who covers the Giants for the Merc, is going to be on with us here
00:57in about 20 minutes.
00:59And oh, by the way, once again, the knockout qualifier window opens in about six minutes.
01:06Come on, knockout qualifier.
01:07We are not losing today.
01:11You cannot be that guy.
01:13Nope.
01:14Or girl.
01:16Or person.
01:17We're winning.
01:17He cannot be that guy.
01:19We're winning today.
01:20It's winning time.
01:22Duh.
01:23Winning.
01:24Okay.
01:24All right.
01:26So this is how it all started.
01:28And I will add the insight that I now have, which is that Tony Vitello was out in the outfield.
01:33He's doing an interview with Ken Rosenthal.
01:35Ken Rosenthal is talking to him about, you know, Tennessee to the Giants and Tennessee to the Giants.
01:41And what about how this all went down?
01:42It got Tony all charged up.
01:45And then the local media didn't know that.
01:47And Tony just fires into the dugout, sits down, wheels around, looks at Susan Slusser and says this.
01:53When did you first think I was taking this job?
01:57Do you remember that part, Max?
01:58Yeah, it was about four days before it actually happened, five days before.
02:01Yeah, it's funny you say that because that was not reality at all.
02:06I don't know if Buster would feel the same way, but that wasn't the case.
02:09Somebody decides they think they got the information.
02:12You know, the final blow was about four days later.
02:16And the thing I had, I'm just kind of having a conversation, therapy, if you will, from walking out of
02:21there.
02:21But I needed confirmation from the coaches that I worked with that helped boost my status that they were okay
02:28with what was going to go on.
02:29And they were going to be okay with their jobs.
02:32You know, that staff had always been built as like next man up.
02:35And all of a sudden that was being threatened.
02:37So it's kind of hard to do something for yourself and your teammates get left behind.
02:42But yeah, it was not four days for what it's worth.
02:45That was not the case at all.
02:46If you would have seen me in my condo, you would have agreed.
02:49Okay, so there's nothing wrong with that other than that I just think everybody sitting there is like, ah, where
02:59the hell is this coming from?
03:00What the hell is going on?
03:01So I'm pretty sure it's John Shea who follows up after that whole thing.
03:06And he's like, ah, why'd you ask?
03:12And here's that.
03:14What do you ask?
03:15Uh, because somebody tweeted it out.
03:17I don't know who told them.
03:18I wish I did.
03:19You know, it might have changed the course of history if I would have known who did, to be honest
03:23with you.
03:23But it just bothers me because, uh, I don't know.
03:26You see people angry on this.
03:28I hate to get philosophical.
03:29But you see people angry on the streets.
03:31For a lot of times, stuff that's not even true.
03:33You know, people arguing and you don't know what reality is.
03:36But that was, I did, uh, sorry shrink-wise.
03:40I did a really damn good job at keeping that away from our team, our recruiting.
03:45And it was not a distraction.
03:47And then all of a sudden, in the middle of practice, I see our first and third base coach freaking
03:51out.
03:52And they freaked out on me, too.
03:54And for no reason.
03:55Because at that point, nothing was going to happen.
03:58But somebody decided that it was going to happen.
04:00And then the whole world started spinning real quick.
04:03And I had to address the team.
04:05And people said either that or me leaving was a distraction.
04:08Those guys are SEC athletes.
04:10They ain't distracted by me.
04:11We dealt with years where they thought we might take a job.
04:14Or we were offered a job.
04:16Or there was jobs open.
04:17I'd meet with guys in the office.
04:18They're like, Coach, we don't care.
04:19The guys care about the guys when the season's going on.
04:22And hopefully they love their coaches.
04:23But that thing was never a distraction.
04:26They got talent.
04:27And they got good kids.
04:28So they're going to be just fine.
04:29But, yeah, that was not a fun Saturday.
04:32And then it kind of affected how the next few days went.
04:35But ultimately, sorry to rain on your parade.
04:38Great organization.
04:39Great people to work with.
04:41And a great challenge.
04:42So didn't say no.
04:44It almost changed the course of history.
04:47That was the line that got a lot of people.
04:48In other words, like, if he would have known who leaked it,
04:52if it was the Giants who leaked it, all of a sudden he's not going to take the job.
04:55That's what I'm hearing him say.
04:57I'll foreshadow that he addressed that today.
04:58And he states that's not what he was saying.
05:01I look forward to hearing what he actually was saying when you talk about almost changing the course of history.
05:06I think no matter what the sort of nuance of the entire conversation is, the negative of this, is it
05:13a huge deal?
05:14Is it a problem?
05:15I don't find it to be a problem.
05:16I didn't love it, though, because it made Giants fans feel like you are still mentally at Tennessee.
05:25And they don't want to hear about Tennessee.
05:27And it did make some people feel like, you don't want to be here.
05:32Do you want to be here?
05:34It's not a problem, but I would file it under H for hmm.
05:38And that's when you file away.
05:39Because for me, there was no need for him to come out and proactively do that.
05:45And yeah, he had a talk with Ken Rosenthal and Ken had his own story.
05:49You want to talk about Tennessee, Tennessee.
05:50Fine.
05:51That was a one on one.
05:52And you come into the local people, the beat reporters, and you proactively go into this whole thing about about
05:59that.
06:00And if that's who you want to be, you can be however you want to be, Tony.
06:03I'm not trying to tell you how to live your life or how to be a manager, but it felt
06:07to me like rabbit ears for one, like people on social media.
06:12You know, it got out on social media and I'm aware of it.
06:15So now that's going to affect me.
06:16Well, guess what?
06:17Every single day, everything you do as a major league manager, it's going to be social media times a thousand.
06:23So if that's getting you already about an offseason, like you are closing in on taking the job.
06:31It's not like somebody said he's agreed to it and he hadn't.
06:34They just said that they were closing in and they were right.
06:37He was closing in.
06:38They were right.
06:40They were right.
06:41And yes, when that is tweeted, there is the thought of like, it's just some dotting of I's and crossing
06:48of T's and all of that stuff.
06:49Again, like I hear you and I largely agree with you.
06:54I just think it was his first mistake as Giants manager.
06:57And I think that he's going to learn from this.
07:01But I also think it came off in some ways and sort of sent some messages that he probably wasn't
07:09trying to send.
07:12And he got all charged up.
07:14Somebody charged him up.
07:15This is no different than when you have a crappy day at work and then you get home and take
07:19it out on your family.
07:21They didn't do anything.
07:22You didn't mean to do that, but you got all gassed up and then you went somewhere else and you
07:29let it out and spilled it all over them.
07:31And I think that's part of the error here.
07:34But to what Evan said on the crossover, he's not wrong either.
07:39Like, Tony is a big personality.
07:43He's a fiery guy.
07:45We might get some of these.
07:47And I'd rather have some of these than nothing, than sort of a dead fish field of the whole dugout.
07:52I guess, but I'd rather have some of these as it pertains to what's going on with the Giants.
07:58Like, this had almost nothing to do with the Giants other than he was mad that the report got out
08:03and social media and whoever reported it.
08:06And, you know, it almost changed the course of events because this happened four days before.
08:10You know, when did you find out?
08:12And Susan says, aren't four days, maybe five days before?
08:16Exactly.
08:16Exactly.
08:17And so he obviously was peeved about either the Kenny Rosenthal report or whoever leaked it.
08:23And so, I don't know, for me, keep it to yourself.
08:26It just, it sounded really petty and amateurish for a guy who's been on the job for about a week.
08:32So today he responded to all of what happened yesterday.
08:36Play that in a second.
08:37But it's 3.31.
08:38The window is open.
08:40The window is open to win your way into the knockout tournament.
08:45If you have registered at 957thegame.com, like the good little listener that you are, then you're in the hopper
08:54and you should listen for your name sometime over the next 30 minutes.
08:59And it might be sooner than that.
09:02We shall see.
09:03Starting right now.
09:04Over the next 30 minutes, we're going to give a name.
09:06If you hear us call your name, you're going to have 9 minutes and 57 seconds, not a darn minute
09:11more, to call the contest line at 415-523-4652 to claim your spot.
09:19Window is open.
09:20Make note of that number so you can do this quickly.
09:24We ain't losing today.
09:29415-523-4652.
09:31That's the contest line.
09:33Make note of it and get ready.
09:36Okay, this is coming.
09:38All right, here's Tony today.
09:40So he walks into the dugout today, and the first thing they said to him is,
09:44Hey, did you hear sort of the uproar over your surprising comments yesterday?
09:53Listen to this response.
09:55I didn't say anything surprising that I know of.
09:57I was just stating the facts.
10:00So if somebody tweets out or says something that's not true about you and it affects your life significantly, it's
10:09not just a deal where your feelings are hurt, but it has a significant impact.
10:16And particularly on my family, which I've obviously got family, but not in Knoxville.
10:22If the team was my family, then I'm not going to be happy about it.
10:26So just like I would want our players to defend themselves, that's what I would do.
10:33But it's kind of hard to defend yourself when it's anonymous or anonymous tip.
10:39So, but no, not worried about that stuff.
10:41Worried about our guys getting prepared.
10:43It's kind of not scary, but maybe more exciting that first game is literally right around the corner.
10:51You're still shaking your head.
10:53Yeah.
10:54I mean, what was, what was tweeted out that was erroneous?
10:57I mean, he stuck on this thing that there was a report out there that wasn't true.
11:02The report was they were closing in on him being the manager.
11:06And I believe that that was the case.
11:08And he's also just fixated on, you know, these anonymous things, anonymous sources.
11:14Well, welcome to 2026, where everything is anonymous.
11:18I could say something and I could go on this rant for 60 seconds and Lucas can take a clip
11:24and it would be viral virality.
11:26And he puts it on Twitter and I could get 17 responses, 15 of whom are from people who don't
11:32actually have names.
11:33They may not exist.
11:34And they're just people.
11:36They're just Twitter accounts.
11:37They're eggs.
11:38And that would be an anonymous report.
11:40So, Tony, I hate to break it to you, but this is the way it works now.
11:44Everything is, by and large, mostly anonymous.
11:47So the report comes out that they're closing in on Tony, Tony Vitello to be the manager.
11:53Either that came from the Giants, from Buster, from Tony's agent, from somebody in Tennessee.
11:58It came from somebody and they're anonymous.
12:01And that's just the way it goes.
12:03Well, it wasn't wrong.
12:04No.
12:05And Stiney said this on the crossover.
12:06I liked it, too, when he said there's got to be something about all of this that has
12:10to do with control.
12:12I don't I'm not going to call Tony a control freak, but I'm going to just I don't know,
12:16like make an educated guess here.
12:18If you're a big time head coach of an SEC program and you're super successful, dude,
12:24I bet you got your thumbprint on everything and everything is under your thumb.
12:29What's your perception of an S.
12:31Now, this is different, but an SEC football coach, Nick Saban control freak.
12:36Yes.
12:37I mean, right.
12:37Not so much a control freak, but you're in control, dude.
12:40You've got boosters who will like pay a hundred grand to just watch you sip a martini.
12:46You've got every recruit in the country who is dying to come play for you.
12:50You're in a smallish town and everything that you want, you get right.
12:55And and again, like are we now now we're painting with a broad brush.
12:59We're sitting out here in our coastal town.
13:01And we think that, you know, the media in Knoxville, Tennessee is probably like,
13:05hey, coach, whatever, whatever you want is.
13:07Do you want to go get a beer?
13:08We can talk it over like and maybe it's not like that.
13:11I don't really know.
13:11I've never been to Knoxville, Tennessee.
13:13But yes, my bet is is especially just as a college coach,
13:18all of your players are 18 to 21 years old.
13:21You are in control.
13:25Well, now you're not.
13:27Sorry.
13:28Now you're not.
13:29And so stuff is going to get on social media that you don't that you don't like.
13:33Now, the one thing that you pointed to that comment, it might have changed history.
13:40Yeah.
13:41He was asked specifically about that today.
13:43Here's the response.
13:46Maybe maybe how things were left, you know, Tennessee.
13:51Yeah.
13:52You know, I wouldn't take what I say too seriously.
13:56I mean, we were talking about a little way.
13:57So, again, I think the facts of the case were what I just said.
14:03It's just that.
14:04Anybody else would react the exact same way.
14:08And it has no real impact on the opportunity that was presented.
14:14And it wouldn't have changed what Buster and I would have agreed and joined to do too.
14:19So, it just happened to be circumstantial.
14:21And like I said, when it affects the people, first off myself, but the people that I'm around every day
14:27too,
14:27then it was less than ideal circumstances.
14:32But pretty ideal circumstances as I sit here and getting to watch, you know, hell, yesterday I said I would
14:38have paid good money to watch Devers and Robbie Ray hook it up for one at bat if I was
14:43just outside the park.
14:44And they'd let me pay for entry.
14:47He says nobody from the front office talked to him.
14:50I call BS.
14:51I think there was absolutely a PR meeting last night.
14:54And you can hear it at the end of that comment where he's like, my mind's on watching Robbie Devers
14:58and Robbie Ray and I'd pay.
15:00And this is an ideal situation.
15:02Again.
15:02As a big old backpedal.
15:04Yeah.
15:04Well, what he's saying is the changing of the course of history might have been, sounds to me like some
15:11relationships at Tennessee got damaged.
15:13And if that's the case, bummer.
15:15And I'm sorry for that.
15:17Has this become already too much of a story for Giants baseball?
15:21There's no question about that.
15:23So here's, for me, it's kind of this.
15:25Look, it's a mistake.
15:26It's a definite mistake.
15:28It's his first mistake.
15:29If we're going to be excited about a college coach coming to the pros, we have to admit that there's
15:36a learning curve and we have to let him go on it.
15:39Now, if this keeps going, right, if on March 8th he's like, so, he sits down at the dugout, you'll
15:47see Tennessee win that game last night.
15:49I mean, like, if this keeps going, then we've got an issue.
15:53Tony has got some emotions around this.
15:55He's an emotional guy.
15:57He stepped in it.
15:58He messed up.
16:00But, I don't know, I, like, I kind of accept the backpedal.
16:03Let's put it that way.
16:04It's not.
16:05Let's see where it goes from here.
16:06He's not a deal breaker to me is a head scratcher.
16:09And I, like I said, I filed her H for whom because he, he clearly didn't have the awareness of
16:16what this actually might be.
16:18When you come out and you proactively do two and a half minutes on, you know, how this report got
16:23out.
16:23And you, you go at Susan Slusser and ask her, I got a question for you.
16:27When did you find out?
16:28Well, I don't know if you know Susan Slusser, but she's probably 35 years in the business and she's one
16:34of the real heavyweight baseball writers, not on the market, but in this country.
16:39So.
16:40As professional as they come.
16:41Correct.
16:42And so you're not going to get her on her heels and she's like four or five days before it
16:45happened.
16:46I mean, she was kind of like, not annoyed, but like, I mean, what's your point?
16:50It was out there and turned out they were closing in on you.
16:53So I don't even know why he went out of his way to do that other than to express that
16:59he was annoyed by the fact that it got out.
17:02And I get that Steve Kerr does it all the time.
17:04He got charged up all the time about things that leak.
17:08And, you know, he was more offended that the punch video got leaked than he was by the punch.
17:13Right.
17:13And that to me was a I mean, that was very telling because, you know, those things happen in NBA
17:19practices.
17:20But the fact that there was a leak.
17:22So that's maybe where Tony was coming from.
17:24And I get it.
17:25But you're new in town.
17:26Knoxville has a population of 200,000.
17:28The Bay Area is 7 million.
17:30So maybe you can recalibrate like where you are.
17:34You're no longer in a small little college town in the south.
17:38You're in the big leagues now.
17:39He's emotional, but he's also stubborn.
17:41Like, I mean, his backpedal did not include a, hey, I'm sorry, Giants fans.
17:46Like, it didn't include.
17:46He didn't have to apologize.
17:48No, I think a lot of people thought he would today.
17:49And he didn't.
17:50He kind of doubled down.
17:51A little bit.
17:52A little bit.
17:53And so, I don't know.
17:54There's a piece of that that doesn't bother me.
17:56Like, yeah, be a rock.
17:57Be stubborn.
17:59This was a mistake.
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