Logan Webb<\/a> said. \u201cSo I think it fires the group up. I\u2019m pretty sure we play pretty well when he does get ejected. I don\u2019t know the numbers on that.\u201d<\/p>\nThe numbers don\u2019t back that up, with their going 2-4 in the games Vitello has been tossed from. They\u2019re already mathematically eliminated from contention, an outcome determined far earlier in the season, and the Giants front office traded off a host of movable veterans accordingly. There\u2019s little pride fans can latch onto as the team tumbles into their fifth straight year without a postseason berth with one of the worst records in baseball.<\/p>\n
Vitello has come under fire for this dismal year, his newness to the league showing early on when he navigated how to use his bench for tactical matchups, and he kept his head down when three pitchers protested Pride Night by defacing their uniform caps.<\/p>\n
Moving through those concerns, Vitello is becoming more and more like the outspoken leader that made him a collegiate coaching star at Tennessee. With the advent of ABS and replay review, there are fewer opportunities to dispute balls and strikes and questionable calls, but Vitello is finding ways to speak up when he\u2019s peeved, hoping to develop a rapport with the umpires.<\/p>\n
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It has not gone smoothly.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot as of late, to be honest with you,\u201d Vitello said, asked if he feels comfortable talking to umpires.<\/p>\n
Vitello\u2019s fourth ejection happened on Aug. 26, when he took exception to a check-swing call that the Giants thought should have gone Webb\u2019s way, yelling his gripe from the dugout before home-plate umpire Ryan\u00a0Blakney tossed him, prompting a profanity-laced tirade from Vitello.<\/p>\n
Several days later against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Nolan Arenado was awarded a double for a ball hit near the foul line. Webb, who happened to be watching on the screens in the batting cage, ran back to the dugout to tell Vitello the ball bounced clearly foul. Webb was heated, realizing his starter, Blade Tidwell, was \u201cgetting the short end of the stick.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was probably partially my fault that he got ejected,\u201d Webb said, who also got ejected.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Manager Tony Vitello, left, gestures after being ejected by umpire Ryan Blakney during a baseball game between the Giants and the Cincinnati Reds, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026, in San Francisco.<\/p>\n
Jeff Chiu\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
What followed was a heated interaction with plenty of f-bombs thrown about with home-plate umpire Alan Porter that Vitello felt crossed a line into the personal. Not just because of the words used, but because of how quick the hook was.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust to be frank, that\u2019s personally the most I\u2019ve felt personally attacked on the field before,\u201d Vitello said. \u201cJust the entire approach to everything. We went from zero to 10 in a hurry.\u201d<\/p>\n
The crew told Vitello he should have come out of the dugout to dispute a call. This one wasn\u2019t reviewable, and there\u2019s no rule stipulating managers have to go onto the field in that situation.<\/p>\n
Ron Wotus, one of the Giants\u2019 longest tenured coaches and returning to a uniformed role for home games this year, has seen his fair share of ejections, gripes and heated conversations, having worked with six managers in San Francisco. He knows an unusually quick hook when he sees it.<\/p>\n
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Wotus made his displeasure known when he took the lineup card out for Game 1 of the next day\u2019s double-header and was ejected then and there.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there have been some real quick ejections this year on managers,\u201d Wotus said. \u201cAnd the real good umpires, the good ones aren\u2019t like that, they use common sense. They\u2019ll talk things out, and it works both ways, right? So there\u2019s mutual respect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vitello decided to keep his mouth shut for a week after his being tossed by Porter. On Sept. 5, he couldn\u2019t hold back when he challenged a call that Turner Hill had fouled off a pitch when it appeared the pitch hit him on the hand. The call was upheld, prompting Vitello to emerge from the dugout\u00a0\u2014 as he was instructed the previous week\u00a0\u2014 to discuss the decision. Vitello told reporters after the game he wanted to \u201ccalm the situation, and got thrown out for walking out of the dugout.\u201d<\/p>\n
Webb has played for four managers (including Bruce Bochy, Gabe Kapler and Bob Melvin), and thinks how Vitello has been treated is noticeably different.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think when it comes to Tony, I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s an \u2018earn your stripes\u2019 type of thing, but at the end of the day, to me, that\u2019s BS a little bit. I think he\u2019s just sticking up for those guys,\u201d Webb said. \u201cThere have been a couple situations where he\u2019s been told he can\u2019t come out, and then he does come out, and they tell him he can\u2019t come out. It\u2019s just different things where I feel like maybe there\u2019s some leeway when you look at some of the older managers around baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Umpires\u2019 responsibilities have been largely automated over the last decade, and a few instances have shown ways in which they\u2019re asserting their authority outside of that. Veteran umpire Doug Eddings got into hot water when he told St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Hancel Rincon during his big league debut to straighten his tilted cap; there is no rule to support Eddings\u2019 actions. Manager Oli Marmol was ejected for taking exception to Eddings\u2019 heavy hand and days later MLB told Eddings he\u2019d gone too far. The umpire subsequently apologized to Rincon on the field.<\/p>\n
The Chronicle reached out to the league to speak with an umpiring crew representative. MLB declined to make one available for comment.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Giants manager Tony\u00a0Vitello reacts after being ejected during a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026, in San Francisco.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jeff Chiu\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
Vitello doesn\u2019t see himself as a victim and he hasn\u2019t reached Bobby Cox levels of being tossed. (Cox\u2019s single-season high for being tossed was 11, and he holds the MLB record for career ejections with 162 total.) Resentment over\u00a0Vitello not earning his stripes \u2014 the right to get up in arms \u2014 was to be expected for a new manager earning $3.5 million, more than most MLB managers with years of experience.<\/p>\n
Vitello says he has been fined \u201cmore times than not\u201d following his six\u00a0ejections and has paid each one without appeal. The Porter toss was the only one he says he takes exception to.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever you\u2019ve got to do. I\u2019m not in this for money,\u201d he said. \u201cI just want us to keep getting better and win. You make friends, you make enemies. I\u2019m not too worried about it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not trying to be the guy who\u2019s always on the field, or a guy who\u2019s trying to take attention away from the players who deserve it, or anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Much like he did at Tennessee, he sees these opportunities as a chance to be a \u201cspokesman\u201d for the team\u00a0\u2014 even as he navigates how to be tactful while sticking up for his guys as a major-league manager.<\/p>\n
Vitello\u2019s fiery side is showing through as the stakes have plummeted and a younger group of players has taken over the clubhouse. It\u2019s worth wondering if a blend of inexperience and working with a veteran-heavy roster saw a more tentative Vitello. Now that he\u2019s managing players also just breaking into the league, it seems like he\u2019s settling in. Over the last month, Vitello has been hosting more \u201cpowwows\u201d in his office, Eldridge said, mostly with younger players. They talk baseball, about \u201chow to create a winning culture,\u201d tossing around thoughts and ideas and sometimes gab about off-field topics.<\/p>\n
Players say they see the Vitello they expected, coming into his own.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, 100%. I think with the group being so young and inexperienced, he feels like it\u2019s been a more natural version of himself,\u201d Eldridge said. \u201cI think he\u2019s definitely come out of his shell as the season has gone on, especially toward the end.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if that\u2019s the right word, but I think he\u2019s really firing us all up. We all love him, and we know he\u2019s got our back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Do Tony Vitello’s recent ejections show he’s still battling for his team or is it another sign he’s in over his head?<\/p>\n
The first-year Giants manager has been tossed three times in the past two weeks and is tied for the most ejections in baseball.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manager Tony Vitello\u00a0reacts after being ejected by umpire Ryan Blakney, left, during the first inning of a game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":800846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2408],"tags":[5,162,4,378,66,4343,4340,4344,4341,4342,185,1870],"class_list":["post-800845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco-giants","tag-baseball","tag-giants","tag-mlb","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-sanfrancisco","tag-sanfranciscogiants","tag-sf","tag-sf-giants","tag-sfgiants","tag-sports","tag-tony-vitello"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117242957925369360","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/800846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}