HIRING UPDATE: Giants LOCK IN Hunter Mense | Bo Bichette Interest | Vitello hiring “INSULTING”

HIRING UPDATE: Giants LOCK IN Hunter Mense | Bo Bichette Interest | Vitello hiring “INSULTING”

Were the Giants one of the teams to check in on Bo Bashette on playing second base? Let’s talk about it. It’s all coming up on Locked on Giants. You are Locked on Giants, your daily San Francisco Giants podcast, part of the Locked On Network. Your team every day. Hello, I’m Alan Styles. Welcome to Locked On Giants, part of the Locked On Network. now the number one sports podcast network. On the show, we provide daily episodes Monday through Friday talking about the San Francisco Giants in a way that combines passion analytics with the eye test and a little bit of fun. I’m from the Bay Area, but I live in Sacramento now. I also host a show at Sacktown Sports 1140, the Allen South Show, as well as MCing a Sacramento Rivercats games. All in all, I’m lucky enough to cover a team I’ve been a fan of all my life. Today we are discussing those uh secret anonymous teams that made calls about Bo Bette but playing second and third base. We are also breaking down some more coaching updates that have been floating around. And last but not least, Tony Vitello’s hiring quote unquote insulting. We will tell you who said that and break down whether we agree or I disagree. And I’ll give you a hint. I don’t fully agree at all. Let’s get on into it. But first, today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 and bonus bets to use across the app. Download the app today. So, Bob Bashette is a name. He’s supposed to make a lot of money. A lot of these guys supposed to make a lot of money, but Bob Bashette is a guy who struggled with some injuries this season. showed up in a big way in the World Series and he opened some eyes because he was not playing shortstop. Now, defensively, Bo Bashette is not, I would say, a lot to write home about, but he is now showing at least some some openness to play other positions. Now, look, that was the World Series. That’s a little bit different than dayto-day. He just wanted to find a way into the lineup. But uh the report was and I have it for you right here early in free agency from John Morrisy. Early in free agency the majority of interest in Bo Bashette is at shortstop. Other teams with incumbent shorts stops like he’s not saying like the San Francisco Giants, but I’m adding in like the San Francisco Giants have expressed interest in him at second base or third base. So this is from the Athletic. Bette was leading the American League in hits before he suffered a left knee sprain on September 6th that ended his regular season. He batted 311, 357, and 483 with 44 doubles, 18 home runs, and 94 RBI’s. A huge bounceback season after a career worst in 2024. He’s led the AL in hits twice in the last 5 years and has a career batting average of 294. He’s a below average defender at shortstop. However, a and several interested teams view him as an option for third base going forward. His prime years have just begun and he’s one of the youngest free agents on the market. Though he has dealt with several lower body injuries in the past couple of years, as long as teams have a clear sense of the health of his knee, Bette will have uh plenty of suitors in free agency because he could be considered a fit as a shortstop, a third baseman, or a second baseman. I saw somebody else say they didn’t think he was quick enough to play second base. He did make some nice plays during the World Series, so it’s really a matter of where you see him. Uh, and do you think he could do that day in day out? Again, you have the World Series and that’s, you know, it’s just on a different level. Here are his salary comps, funny enough. Willie Adamis, that’s 7 years, 182 million. Danby Swanson at 7 years, 177 million. Marcus Simeon, 7 years, 175 million. And Matt Chapman at six years, 151 million. his best team fits the Blue Jays, the Red Sox, the Tigers, the Yankees, the Phillies, the Dodgers, the Cubs, the Mariners, the Mets. I saw and his contract prediction seven years 189 million. Look, I saw that Bo Bashette either turned a team down or uh some story where he basically was saying he only wanted to play for the Blue Jays initially. So, that’s 27 million a year, by the way. initially, not recently, but initially Bob Bashette wanted to play for the Blue Jays. They just tasted the World Series but didn’t get to win it. I think he’s probably just going to return back to Toronto unless Toronto doesn’t want to pay him that money. Uh, as far as the Giants are concerned, I haven’t heard anything. Uh, it is something that people have maybe whispered about, but again, you have that one last big paycheck. That’s how I keep saying it. Maybe they have more than that, but we know they have one more. We just don’t know uh if they’re going to spend it on one player, if they’re going to split it on two players, if they’re going to split it in three ways on three players. But we do know they have the equivalent of they got more than that. But what we feel like they’re realistic realistically going to spend is the equivalent of one of these big contracts, right? So, how do they want to disperse it? I don’t foresee them uh dispersing it and giving it to an infielder. I think uh and from what I’ve heard, they’re pretty high on Casey Schmidt. They think that his batto ball skills are really good. I think that he surprised them a little bit at second base and how comfortable he looked at second base. So Bo Bett, he doesn’t have the lettuce anymore, doesn’t have those long flowing locks. He’s got short hair now, but Bo Bashette uh and all the aura and swagger that he has, I don’t think is coming to Oracle Park. I don’t think is coming to San Francisco. Uh but people were a bit curious if San Francisco, if the Giants could have been one of those teams that have reached out to say, “Hey, would you want to play second base? Would you want to play third base?” I don’t see it happening. It’s just a lot of money and the the injuries. I’m sure he’ll bounce back. He is right there, as the athletic said, getting ready to kick off his prime. But I don’t believe and from what I have heard and what I’ve been told, I do not believe that the Giants are one of those teams checking in on Bo Bashette. But you never know. These things can change quickly. And if nobody wants to pay Bo this money and it starts to uh uh lower a bit, you never know who could be interested. But yeah, I’m not hearing that. I know there are a lot of Bob Bishette fans out there and he does play the game I think in a way that Tony Vitello would love, but I don’t see him being somebody that the Giants would bring in at this point in time. It’s really uh hey, it’s just the wrong place, wrong time. You know those relationships where hey, maybe in another life, maybe in another life if that life was not already taken. We’re already comm we’re already in a committed relationship to Willie Adamus and Matt Chapman. So that’s enough for the Giants right now. On the other side, we have a ton of coaching updates that I want to make you aware of. There was an article out from Pavlovich. Then there was an update after he put out the article. So I want to make you all aware on what is going on there. Don’t move. More locked on Giants coming up. NFL season is back and honestly, there’s nothing better than being in the stadium surrounded by fans cheering on your team. But let’s be honest, getting tickets can be a hass between cues, login screens, and prices. Jumping at checkout, it’s frustrating. That’s why I use Game Time, the app that gives the advantage back to fans. Game time is fast, easy, and backed by the Game Time guarantee. 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Once you try them, they’ll be your go-to pair. Trust me. And if you’re in San Francisco, check out Doer Store at 567 Haze Street. Pick up a pair for yourself or grab one as amazing as an amazing holiday gift. Mention my promo code locked on SF in store to get 15% off your first order or shop online at shopd.com/lockedonsf for that same 15% off. That’s due.com/locktonsf. Your new favorite jeans are waiting. So, I want to start here with the newest update obviously from Alex Pavlovich. So, he initially put out something last night after I posted. Uh, but now, and by the way, I’m just on his I’m on his page and Logan Webb finished fourth in L NL Sai Young award voting. He has finished second, sixth, and fourth over the past three seasons. So, here we go. Some Blue Jays news. Jays are losing assistant hitting coach Hunter Menz per multiple sources. He’s taking a hitting coach job with the SF Giants, reuniting with Tony Vitello. Menz had been on the Jays big league staff since 2022. Leaves another hole on their staff. That’s from Mitch Bannon who of course covers the Blue Jays for the Athletic. Now here is Alex Pavlovich. The Giants have spent the past year drafting and trading for young hitters who put the ball in play. It’s no coincidence that their new hitting coach comes from the team that led the majors in average last year and was 29th in strikeouts. Okay. So the batto ball stuff that the Giants keep preaching, that is exactly what they want and that is exactly what they’re going to continue to tell people they’re focused on and why they’re moving in this direction. So that all just came out that came out six hours ago. It came out earlier today and obviously Mitch Bannon posted it. Alex Papovich is all over it and we’re going to be all over it too. Look, man, this is exactly what the Giants have been talking about. The strikeout stuff, the three true outcomes, uh the the idea of time being a flat circle is so true. And now we’re seeing that the Giants uh want to be a part of that. And the three true outcome stuff, people are starting to feel uh we understand what it is and we understand how valuable the home run is, but you got to put the bat on the ball. And how many times, I’m not going to name names, but how many times did the Giants have a situation they had somebody on third, they had somebody on second, less than two outs, less than one out, and they couldn’t even get anybody over. And people are sick of it. Pitchers are sick of it, managers are sick of it, coaches are sick of it, ownership sick of it, GMs are sick of it, presidents of baseball operations are sick of it. Everybody’s sick of it. You got to get jobs done. So, here’s a guy who again, they were uh 29th in strikeouts, man. 29th. Okay. So, they’re at the they’re at the bottom of the food chain when it comes to swinging and missing, meaning they’re at the top of the food chain. They put the bat on the ball. Now, when the Blue Jays got to the World Series, they were right there. But again, that says more about, not to get into it, how that defense was played. nine times, eight times out of 10 they’re scoring and that’s how they ended up uh being where they were and being first place in the AL East and getting to the World Series. So, this is a huge get. This is a huge get. So, Tony Vitello and this is what we’re talking about. Buster Posey is he’s a smart guy, man. I don’t I don’t got to tell you guys, but he’s a smart guy and he understands. Look, sometimes you have to make decisions and Tony Vitello and we’re going to talk about how people feel about Tony Vitello, but uh and and some of the quotes that have been said, but sometimes it it is deeper than simply do you have experience or not. It’s about connections, okay? And that type of stuff matters. So, uh this is from Yahoo Sports. It was only yesterday that Buster Posie indicated Tony Vital’s new coaching staff was still very much a work in progress. 24 hours later, they get Mitch Bannon and they’re able to bring him over. And I’m trying to confirm here. Here it is. Both are Missouri natives and men played at Missouri while Vital was an assistant coach. All right, this is from the same setup for those uh Max Scherzer conversations. It was all together. Uh Sherzer is currently the only active major leaguer from Vitello’s time in Missouri, by the way. So it was all connected while Vitella was an assistant coach. So Mens has that connection and he wants to be a part of that staff. That’s incredible. That’s a huge deal. So uh that’s a get that. Do you pull him away if it’s not Tony Vitello? If it’s one of these guys that does have managerial experience, manager experience, is it the same? I don’t know. But Buster Posey knows what he’s doing and he knows relationships. As old saying goes, that’s what my parents always told me. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. I think Tony Vitello knows a lot as well, but he also knows a lot of people and people like him. So, that’s huge news. Huge news on the hitting coach front. I want to get to the other updates. This is from uh this is just a breakdown that I have of Alex Pavlovich’s article. Tony Bello and Posie are close to finaling finalizing several coaching hires and obviously one got uh one got confirmed today. Assistant coach Oscar Bernard, we talked about him yesterday, as well as quality control coach Tyra Umatsu, bullpen catcher, uh, coach uh, Elizer Zambrano. Ron Wus will return in his hybrid role, working with the front office, major leaguers, and minor league affiliates. Departures, third base coach Matt Williams informed the team he wouldn’t return. Assistant coach Damon Miner was let go. Pitching coach JP Martinez left for the Braves, we talked about that as well. Bullpin coach Garvin Alustin won’t return. Pat Burl will stay. We talked about that. The Giants are further along uh in their search. And uh obviously they hired the hitting coach now, but they’re still looking for that pitching coach. Okay, Jay Singler, that’s been out. He’s expected to be a bench coach or associate manager. Here’s some of the fun ones. Uh Ryan Vogle song is not in the mix for a pitching coach despite the rumors. So to clear that up, Javier Lopez joins a front office in an advisory role. Mark Hallberg remains undecided as other teams continue to show interest. Catching coach Alex Berg is weighing other opportunities as well as far as the approach and philosophy. Buster Posie has taken a hands-on role in assembling Vitello’s first MLB staff, unlike last year when Bob Melvin chose his own. So, it’s a collaborative effort, but we understand that Buster Posie wants to put them in as good of a situation as possible. He describes the process as a collaboration between himself, Bell, Zack Manassian, assistant GM Jeremy Shelley, and VP of analytics Paul Ben. So, there you have it. The Giants are able to lock down a hidden coach. And this is huge. It also leads right into uh my last segment of the day as a World Series coach had some things to say. A World Series manager I should say had some things to say about Tony Vitello and just the larger conversation of these guys getting hired as well as a longtime Major League Baseball media member. Don’t move. More Locked on Giants coming up. Thank you for making Locked On Giants your first listen of the day. And thank you for making Locked On the number one sports podcast network. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fanduel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Last segment for you and with the news that came out about the new hitting coach, obviously connected to Tony Vitello, it perfectly lines up, and I already had this on the on the docket for today, but it perfectly lines up with what people have been saying. So, uh, let’s first start with Ken Rosenthal. So, there are some league circles not happy with the Giants, as well as some of these other teams that went with firsttime head coaches. So, uh, let me read. I don’t have the whole article, but I do have some bits and pieces from the article that Kent Rosenthal said that I did want to break down for you. And this is this is all quotes, and I’ll tell you when it’s not. Is the fun over now? Are people in baseball done trying to reinvent the wheel with their wildly unconventional hires? Or is the next step for some team to hire a 16-year-old math wiz as their GM? I’m kidding. I think maybe Tony Vitella will make a great manager for the San Francisco Giants along with Blake Bouter for the Washington Nationals, Kurt Suzuki for the Los Angeles Angels, and Craig Stamon for the San Diego Padres’s, and maybe the reincarnated Paul de Podesta will be who finally figures out how to make the Colorado Rockies a consistent winner. Where is the evidence for any of that, though? All industries should welcome new ways of thinking. Baseball has done a good job of that over the past two decades, benefiting from advances in analytics and technology. Yet, there is still a risk in trying to be too creative with hires. It’s doubtful all of them will work out as intended. What exactly is it some teams want other than to do something different? Beats me, their supposed boldness goes only so far. Nine jobs came open this cycle and barring a shocking move by Colorado, future Hall of Famer Albert Pu will not land any of that. He goes on to say Shoemarker, Weiss, and Shelton are all getting that second shot. Yet, with nearly onethird of the teams looking, former Chicago Cubs manager David Ross, former Orioles manager Brandon Hyde drew little interest. True, retreads aren’t always attractive, but few perceived Ross and Hyde as incompetent in their first tries. Then he goes on to say uh they could become the next Terry Francona or AJ Hinch retreads who became great managers in their second jobs blah blah blah blah blah. I don’t have a problem with Ken Rosenthal and I guess his larger point but the reality is there are no look there are no rules in this and he knows that Stephen Bo just won manager of the year backto backto back. So, uh, obviously this works out sometimes, sometimes it doesn’t. Uh, I know that the Nationals hiring a 33y old. That’s that sounds crazy, but hey, you got to let people do what they do. There was a time when retreads were really hot. Right now, retreads aren’t very hot. So, it’s unfortunate if right now is your time to be a retread. And right now, the kind of new look and getting fresh faces and fresh starts, that’s how it is, too. Same thing happens in the NFL. Same thing happens in the NBA. So, I we don’t need to cry. I think what it is, to be honest with you, is Ken Rosenthal’s been around for a long time, probably has a lot of relationships, and he sees guys that maybe, you know, and they got opportunities. That’s what’s crazy, right? It’s not like they didn’t get opportunities, but he sees guys that, oh man, they should have got another shot at this, or they should have been able to do that. And he feels some type of way about it because he knows these guys, but the reality is they got an opportunity. it didn’t necessarily uh work out for them or it did and their time just came to a close and they’ll probably get another shot. But I don’t think it’s worth uh complaining and you know even though he’s saying that the the situation could work out. He clearly doesn’t feel like he wants it to. So I don’t know. The whole thing is just ridiculous to me and it just makes me want to uh it makes me want Tony Vital and all these guys not the Padres’s, right? But all these guys to work out and whoever the Rockies hire, even better. So, here’s the other note on it. This is from uh the flagship KBR they had on Joe Madden. Okay, Joe Madden, longtime manager, a legend in the game. And he says this, here’s the quote. I’m using the word insulting only from the perspective that it appears as though you don’t have to have any professional experience to do this job anymore. Having said that, I wish him nothing but the best. Now, when you hear that, it sounds a little uh backhanded. When you listen to it, it doesn’t sound as venomous as when you read it. When I read it and everybody’s reacting to it, I don’t know how many people uh clicked on the clip. It did sound, man, Joe, that’s kind of sour grapes. When you play it, in my opinion, I understood his stance. If it took you 30 years, I think he said 30, he might have even said 40 to get to where he was, right? And he’s not a manager anymore, but where he was and the heights that he reached, World Series and all that, I understand his thought process. The word insulting is what’s going to trigger people, right? Anytime uh a uh uh somebody skips the line. We did this with Steve Nash on the Nets, it didn’t work out. JJ Reic on the Lakers is kind of working out in the NBA and we’ve seen it before in the NFL as well. So, this is something that always comes up. The Giants just happen to be a part of it. And again, I give more kudos to Buster. It could end up not working out. But here’s the thing. Read coaches will always be around. Coaching carousels will always be around. So Bus Posi might not be around if it doesn’t work out with Tony Vital, but you can always go back to the well. So there’s never going to be that urgency. And maybe Buster felt like I can go back whether it ends up being him or not. But retread coaches will always be there. There’s always going to be somebody that had some level of success and they moved on from him for whatever reason. Right. Right now Tony Vital, I think that’s what our team needs right now. And as we connect the dots now, we get a hitting coach that maybe we don’t get if it’s not Tony Vital, the connections that he has. Buster is trying to do things a different way and I applaud him for that. And Joe Madden, like I said, when you listen to it, I wasn’t as ups I got less upset once I played it. Once I played the clip, but the word insulting is going to trigger people. And I get it when you see how long it took you to do something, right? You know what it is? I got two kids, right? My mom says this type of stuff to me all the time. Back in my day, we didn’t have bottle heaters or bottle warmers. We didn’t have this. We didn’t have that. And there’s a part of her that thinks, man, that would have saved me a lot of time, right? But at the same time, she’s still happy for me that we don’t have to spend our time heating the bottles the oldfashioned way and things like that. Joe Madden, he’s looking at it as, hey, this is kind of my life’s work. And this guy just gets to skip the line. And maybe he’s not looking at it like my mom at a bottle at a baby bottle because he’s saying that’s work I can’t get back. But again, and maybe it’s the no MLB experiencing at all. When Stephen Vote does it, how does it feel? When you are doing something never done before, people are going to be uncomfortable and that comes with the territory. So Joe Madden, I don’t have a huge problem with what he said. Insulting is a little strong, but he’s welcome to feel how he feels. So I wanted to speak on that. Let me know in the comments whether you agree with Joe or disagree because I know a lot of you out there, not a lot, but there are some of you that necessarily aren’t sold on the Tony Vitella thing. And you can be sold on Tony Vitello and still kind of see where Joe Madden’s coming from. And I think that’s where I fall, but you go on the Giants flagship and say that it ain’t going to go over well. Thank you for listening to Locked On Giants. Be sure to follow me on social media at the_Styles Filestyles with an I. We’ll be back tomorrow, of course. And we got a good one for you. You don’t want to miss it. So we will talk to you then and until then peace.

The Giants are once again at the center of offseason headlines — from Bo Bichette rumors to Buster Posey’s evolving coaching staff search and the league pushback on Tony Vitello’s hire. Jon Morosi says certain teams checked in on Bichette — potentially at second base — while Posey continues to finalize his big league staff with hitting coach Hunter Mense, Jayce Tingler, Ron Wotus, and more in the mix. Meanwhile, Ken Rosenthal questions the Giants’ unconventional hiring strategy, sparking another round of debate over Posey’s front-office vision. We break down all the latest reports, what’s real versus reactionary, and how this offseason shapes the Giants’ identity going forward.

0:00 Giants call about Bichette?

10:22 New Hitting Coach

18:36 Vitello hiring “insulting”?

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Locked On Giants podcast is your daily ticket to stay ahead of the game and the first to know the latest news, analysis, and insider info for the San Francisco Giants and Major League Baseball. Hosted by Allen Stiles, a lifelong Giants fan, current radio host and digital creator that has covered the Giants for years, the Locked On Giants podcast provides your daily Giants fix with expert, local analysis, and coverage of all aspects of the Giants franchise, including game breakdowns and transactions in a data-driven way that’s rational but simple, passionate and accessible. Locked On Giants takes you beyond the scoreboard for the inside scoops on the biggest stories from within the Giants locker room and all over MLB. The Locked On Giants podcast is part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.

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