The Giants are taking a risk with their historic hire of Tony Vitello as their next manager, and not everyone loves the move.
Specifically, former MLB manager Joe Maddon, who joined KNBR 680’s “Murph & Markus” on Tuesday and explained why he was insulted by San Francisco’s decision to hire a manager straight from the collegiate level.
“Quite frankly, I’m using the word ‘insulting’ only from the perspective that you don’t have to have any kind of experience on a professional level to do this job anymore,” Maddon said. “Because when I was coming up, you had to have all that, you had to go through the minor leagues, you had to ride your buses. I was a scout, I started in 1981, I finally get a managerial job in 2006. There was a rite of passage, a method to get to that point. So to think somebody can just do what you took 20-some years to be considered qualified to, it is kind of insulting.”
Maddon then proceeded to wish Vitello well while oddly comparing the new Giants manager’s lack of MLB experience to other high-profile jobs around the country that are being filled by candidates who might not have the traditional experience in their respective fields, including New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
“Now, having said that, the next part is, I wish him nothing but the best, because I watch videos of the guy and I can actually understand why it’s perceived that he’s ready to do something like this,” Maddon added. “I guess the overarching point is, in today’s world, prerequisites to get jobs of this caliber, even jobs like the Mayor job of New York City now, it doesn’t require the years of experience that you may have had to have gone through in the past.
“I think communication skills, perceived leadership skills, those are the kind of things that become more valid or important and not necessarily having kind of like, internal knowledge, working knowledge of the craft at hand, which would be Major League Baseball or running a city. It’s not just baseball, it permeates throughout the entire world right now.”
Maddon then was asked if Vitello’s hire is a good or bad thing for baseball moving forward.
“I don’t think it’s either, I just think it’s baseball,” Maddon explained. “It’s going to be a good thing for the Giants if it works out well, which honestly, I am rooting for him. I didn’t know of him until he was hired and then I started looking at videos and then I said ‘Oh, I get it. I understand why.'”
Does he?
It’s safe to assume neither Vitello nor the Giants care.
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