Tony Vitello started his media session Tuesday morning with a question about the comments he made a day earlier, addressing the reporting of his move from the University of Tennessee to the San Francisco Giants.
“Did you hear back much after some of your comments yesterday?” San Francisco Chronicle baseball beat writer Susan Slusser asked. “Some people were a little surprised to hear you say some of those things.”
“No, I’m busy with this,” Vitello said, referring to Giants spring training. “I didn’t say anything surprising that I know of. I was just stating the facts.”
Tony Vitello was asked about yesterday’s comments.
Said no one from the Giants addressed it with him & was just stating facts. He talked about the “change the course of history” comment and how that nothing would’ve changed b/t him and Posey.
(Apologies for some bad audio) pic.twitter.com/JwegaaooZk
— Matt Lively (@mattblively) February 17, 2026
Vitello’s fact-finding mission on Monday started when he asked reporters when they first heard he had interest in taking the Giants job back in October, then went on explaining that the process did not take place the way in which it was reported.
He picked back up there on Tuesday when prompted.
“If somebody tweets out or says something that’s not true about you,” Vitello said, “and it affects your life significantly, it’s not just a deal where your feelings are hurt, but it has a significant impact. And particularly on my family — which I’ve obviously got family, but not in Knoxville, the team was my family — then I’m not going to be happy about it.”
Vitello on Monday said the first report on October 18 that he was close to becoming the new manager of the Giants were not accurate and that his final decision didn’t come until days later. The move was officially announced by San Francisco on October 22.
“Somebody decides they think they got the information,” Vitello said on Monday. “The final blow was about four days later.”
‘I wouldn’t take what I say too seriously’
On Tuesday he said he was defending himself, just like he would want one of his players to do.
“It’s kind of hard to defend yourself when it’s anonymous or an anonymous tip,” Vitello said. “But no, not worried about that stuff. Worried about our guys getting prepared. And it’s kind of scary — maybe more exciting — the first game is literally right around the corner.”
Monday was the first full team workout for the Giants, who open the Cactus League schedule on Saturday in Arizona.
But the follow-up question went back to another Vitello comment from Monday, when he said he would like to know who leaked the information in October because “it might have changed the course of history if I would’ve known who did”.
“I wouldn’t take what I say too seriously,” Vitello said on Tuesday. “I mean, we were talking about Lil’ Wayne yesterday. So, again, I think the facts of the case were what I just said. It’s just that anybody else would react the exact same way.
“And it has no real impact on the opportunity that was presented, and it wouldn’t have changed what Buster (Posey) and I would have agreed and joined to do, too. So just happened to be circumstantial.”
The first report connecting Vitello and the Giants came from The Athletic, with the report being published on a Saturday afternoon as Tennessee’s baseball team was on the field at Lindsey Nelson Stadium for a fall workout.
Vitello said on Monday the report had his assistant coaches “freaking out” and “they freaked out on me, too.
“And for no reason,” Vitello said, “because at that point, nothing was going to happen.”
Tony Vitello on Giants job: ‘Pretty ideal circumstances as I sit here’
On Tuesday he described the turbulence created by the report as “less than ideal circumstances.”
“When it affects the people, first off myself, but the people that I’m around every day, too,” Vitello said, “then it was less than ideal circumstances. But (it’s) pretty ideal circumstances as I sit here getting to watch (spring training).
“Hell, yesterday I said I would’ve paid good money to watch (Rafael) Devers and Robbie Ray hook it up for one at-bat if I was just outside the park, and they’d let me pay for entry.”