It seems like the NY Mets-Giants trade was a precursor to controversial manager hire

Tony Vitello will be the San Francisco Giants manager next year. Not familiar with him? Neither was most Major League Baseball fans. The Giants took him from college where he was the skipper at Tennessee. As former New York Mets radio broadcaster Keith Raad took note of, it almost feels like too good of a coincidence when we look back at this summer’s swap that sent reliever Tyler Rogers to Flushing.

In exchange for Rogers, the Mets gave up big leaguer Jose Butto as well as prospects Drew Gilbert and Blade Tidwell. Gilbert and Tidwell were both coached by Vitello at Tennessee before getting drafted by the Houston Astros (Gilbert) and Mets (Tidwell).

It’s almost as if the Giants already had their eye on Vitello.

Destiny, coincidence, or a plan all along which gives Tony Vitello a couple of players he’s already familiar with?

Bob Melvin was just 161-163 in his two seasons with the Giants. A somewhat surprising firing by the Giants at the end of a disappointing season, no one could’ve imagined Vitello would end up with a major league job. The franchise has had some of the most respected and experienced managers in the game over the last few decades. Dusty Baker had 10 years from 1993-2002. Bruce Bochy later received 13 seasons from 2007-2019. Sprinkled between them was Felipe Alou.

Hires like this often lead us to speculate about which connections are out there that can lead to answering the question of “what’s next?” Garrett Crochet, a former Tennesse Volunteer, isn’t leaving the Boston Red Sox for the Giants. What about Mets Triple-A bench coach J.P. Arencibia? Also a Tennessee alumni, we might want to keep an eye on if there’s a relationship there. Arencibia was a candidate to become the next Mets bench coach. Instead, they went with former Giants bench coach Kai Correa.

Vitello has an opportunity to completely change the way we think of managerial hires. MLB experience, either as a player or coach, always felt like a necessity. With the game inching toward being a more collectively managed one between the manager and front office, it’s a gamble the Giants are willing to take.