Manager Tony Vitello details reasoning for Giants' Opening Day roster lineup

Giants manager Tony Vitello speaks to reporters ahead of San Francisco 's Opening Day matchup against the New York Yankees on Wednesday at Oracle Park.

Manager Tony Vitello details reasoning for Giants' Opening Day roster lineup originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

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Hi, Tony.

first of all, just, how are things going for you overall today?

Was everything kind of exactly what you expected?

How's your time crunch, all of those kind of things, with so many things going on?

Yeah, no, I think it's pretty good.

hooked up with my family, and they're helping me get my car sorted and my condo sorted.

so people taking weight off my shoulders, including all the folks in R&D and stuff like that have kind of already put in a lot of the work, but just reviewing a lot of things today.

So, some extra conversations, and, I've done it before.

Get the group together and ask as many dumb questions as possible.

You'd, you'd rather look foolish earlier than later.

so overall, good.

And of course, knocking out all the things that come extra with, with Netflix.

And really, the more you think about it, I, I know they're trying to grow their deal with sports, but baseball's always looking to grow.

and I think Netflix being a part of things is one, one more, you know, thing in the basket that's gonna help.

and, and we do have your opening day lineup.

Yes.

You've got Arraez up top.

You've got Adames in the cleanup spot.

What, what are your thoughts just sort of overall on how, especially the top of the lineup shapes up, and, and why- Yeah you chose those guys?

Good players.

I'm glad they're in our dugout.

and I think, you know, throughout the year, a couple of those guys, in particular, two of the lefties there are pretty versatile on what they can do.

It's kinda similar to what we've done in recent history, and, most of the guys are fairly familiar with the spot they've been in or have had success at different times.

And then overall, just trying to go with balance.

I think if anything, just doing an interview, talking about putting a stamp on team and things like that, opening day more than ever, what the coaches are trying to do is find out what we got.

And, obviously, there's all the fanfare and all those things.

But if you, if you took a step back from how exciting this day is, what you're trying to do is figure out what you got, what you need to do, wh-where you can improve, what are maybe some areas, you know, you gotta cover up, that, that might be a weakness.

but as far as, again, the stamp thing or, or just the immediate future is let the guys play, you know.

I, I got a recruiting background, and, you're always looking for thoroughbreds.

I've seen more in the opposing dugout and been around more at practice than I've ever been a part of in my life.

So, when the game starts, the people that are tuning in will get their money's worth 'cause there's a lot of them on the field.

And, I think if you had our preference, we'd like to stay out of the way and, and let them go at it and decide who's better just on this given day.

W-with first base, is that related to what Devers was dealing with, with the hamstring in spring training?

Yeah.

Or- Yeah.

And a-again, I think he's kinda, y-you know, for, for brevity's sake and the conversations we've had, he's kinda put the ball in our court.

And, he's been, I wanna say cooperative.

That makes it sound a little too drastic.

But, he's been understanding with kinda any approach we wanna take, and Bader's done the same thing.

I think he's kinda, you know, similar to Rafi, kinda done a deal where it's, "O-okay, I understand where you guys are coming from."

And, you know, the goal was to get today.

To t-to today and feel prepared and have guys', you know, bodies and minds as best as possible.

But the season has already started a few weeks ago.

No one's gonna be 100%.

What we want is our best individuals to be on the field as often as possible throughout the year.

Have you determined who will be handling closing duties, or do you expect that role to be fluid?

Yeah.

I, I think, you know, the word fluid has been used probably too much, you know, with just a lot of the things we would do with our team, and in particular, the pitchers.

but it's for good reason.

It's early in the year.

These guys do have a track record and, you know, a bit of a history for the most part, either with the Giants organization or MLB baseball in general.

but yeah, what we wanna do is kinda assess the situation as the game is going on and, and now with, with R&D and all those things, a lot of those conversations are done well in advance of actually making the move.

So, there's a, there's-- To be honest with you, there are several scenarios where it could be a few different guys.

At least if it plays out the way we talked in there, which there's probably a 7% chance of, of that happening.

We've talked a lot about some of the tough decisions and conversations you've had to make during camp.

How rewarding was the, breaking the news to, to O-Oliva that he made the roster?

That was-- I'm glad you bring that up.

it's good to focus on the positives.

And, he was excited and intense, and that quickly, when he reflected on how hard he's had to work to get to an opening, opening day setting, then it got different.

So, it's pretty awesome, and, I think he's earned it.

And, I'd probably have a lot, an added question in here to answer if he wasn't with us.

So, it's nice when the guys make the decision for you.

And ultimately, that's what you're looking for, and I've said it a million times to y'all because it got me here.

Good players make you look smart.

And, so again, kinda my tangent or, or overly wordy answer was, we want the guys to play.

And then, yes, we do have a responsibility as the season goes on to put those guys in a position to be successful.

You, you talked a lot during the spring about how difficult the decision was at backup catcher.

What was sort of the, the final decision there with Haas and Susac?

Yeah.

that, that would be difficult to put into one distinct answer because it was so challenging.

you know, I, I'd like to, I'd like to see Haas again.

I'd like to hang out with him again.

I'd like to be in the same uniform as him.

We'll see if that time comes.

but definitely pleased with Susac.

I mean, Arraez came in the dugout yesterday and said it.

He, you know, to impress that guy bas-- He, he, I'd like to, I'd spend a good fortune to be inside of that guy's head for a day.

I think the game is moving at a different speed, and, and he's so intelligent about the game.

So I'm just trying to, illustrateThat, to me, is the best compliment you can get, is somebody like that, believing in you and talking about your talents on the defensive end, whether it's managing a game, calling pitches, receiving.

I think everybody now that's seen us play knows he has arm strength.

it, it wasn't easy.

i- if anything, I think some of the at-bats we at- we got were better.

you know, and I'm not so sure if we played 30 more games, it wouldn't be just dead even in a lot of different categories.

A- and you have three left-handers in the bullpen.

Is that something that you particularly wanted for this series, or does it indicate maybe more how somebody like Miller, who's good against righties and lefties, might be used?

Yeah.

well, first of all, let's call it like it is.

I just came from college.

I just graduated college.

I'd take eight lefties if You know, that's kinda how it works down there.

but I, I think, you know, it's a variety of looks.

and then also, y- you do look at splits these days, and there are some guys that have reverse splits or ones that are, you know, neutral.

one of our Pike was using a more intelligent word than that, but it, it kind of a wash in some situations.

And so the bottom line is, I love Gage for his composure.

Borucki, hell of a PFP play.

The thing that stands out to me is it's a different look and a tough look on lefties, and he's been in the fire.

and then Miller's just got really good stuff, regardless if you're a righty or a lefty, and he's been in many a situations in a Giant uniform out there.

So I, I think there's good balance in that bullpen.

here's to those guys becoming a posse, and a close group, and being with us as often as possible.

But I think to the point about some of the difficult decisions we had to make, I, I think it's a no-brainer that it's gonna be a bigger group than an eight-man group that helps us.

We got good depth there.

Tony, how'd you sleep last night, and what it's, what's your nerves level today and before the game?

Yeah.

Do I look nervous?

Yeah.

no, I'm just teasing.

I answered this question several times today, and, I, I It took a while to get to sleep, but that's kind of the norm for me when you play a night game.

you get out of here whatever time, and then you'd like some cool-down time, and reflect on the day, and also start looking towards tomorrow.

And then once I was out, I was out.

Patience pays, and, I, I ended up getting a, a good setup.

I like where I'm at, living here, and, so once I was asleep, I was asleep.

But I did make the mistake of not turning my phone on do not disturb.

And, yeah.

A, an old buddy, former teammate, one of Tingler's best friends, he's a part of the Phillies organization.

He wouldn't stop calling me this morning.

So once I was up, I was up.

So nerves?

Don't feel, don't feel nervous?

I mean, I, I think you feel a lot of different things, you know, when the day starts.

And then when you get to the meat and potatoes of the day, it's kind You're gonna wear yourself out if you're You know, I always would talk to our pitchers at Tennessee or, or just in college, like, you can't.

The only guy I know is Roger Clemens that could walk around all day long, from stories I hear, foaming at the mouth, you know, in Ray Lewis mode.

And I think if, you're either, too excited, too nervous, too whatever, you're gonna, you're gonna miss some steps that we were taking in there in the office.

And then, you know, o- overall, I, you know I probably looked soft, getting a little emotional yesterday, just reflecting on players I've been around, in particular these guys in the locker room.

I, I feel like I'm in a different place than I was when I was in Korea or I was in Kansas City meeting one of our guys.

I really like the guys that are in the locker room.

They've made me feel like I should approach this day with confidence and, you know, a bunch of other good attributes.

So you'd be crazy if you didn't have some of that, but it's all kind of being drowned out by everything else, in my opinion.

Which it's me, so I guess that opinion counts.

Hi, Tony.

Hi.

Nice to see you.

Yeah.

you, you started by saying you asked some dumb questions this morning.

I mean, w- what were those questions?

Yeah, just reviewing some of the rules.

they're different, and we've gone over them.

MLB does a good job of presenting those to us.

There's a couple slight changes.

yeah, I g- I gotta be honest with you.

One thing I was looking at was wh- who are the umpires tonight, and it said You know, you get on Google, the first thing you see is there's gonna be a robot umpire.

And it was only for a millisecond, but I kinda freaked out.

And they're referring to the ABS as a robot umpire.

So, you know, just, just reviewing the subtleties that are different, y- you know, rule-wise.

And, you know, hey, I know this guy's our best ground ball guy, but who are our best three ground balls guys, and review the stats.

Just, just anything that you would regret not asking beforehand.

Who was in that meeting with you?

the whole staff.

W- and a whole basket of pastries.

So I mean, if- y- you want as many wins as possible in a day, I avoided, one of those pastries, and they all looked pretty deadly.

So I'm at least 1 and 0 today.

If you're gonna write about something before the game, we'll see what, what happens during the game.

Yeah.

But- Yeah, but the whole coaching staff was together.

Hi, Tony.

congratulations on your first win, then.

Thank you.

I'm, I'm curious.

you know, it's not only the home opener, the opening day.

You guys are on a stage all by yourself tonight.

The uniqueness of that, and just Giants and Yankees, two pillars in Major League Baseball, your thoughts, and just kind of the Super Bowl to start opening day for baseball.

Yeah.

I've always loved opening day.

it just is fitting for baseball.

There's I, I don't know.

they, they say on the commercial, "A tradition like any other."

Did I get that tagline right?

I gotta disagree strongly.

Now, part of it is I don't golf.

but th- this, this sport is based in tradition more than any other.

And one thing that's always been there is get the bunting out, and opening day comes with so many things.

But it's a blank canvas for fans, for you all, for the players.

you know, the statistics don't really have much to do with it, for the most part.

And, uh-You know, the players that I've either gotten to know in the big leagues or have coached, a common theme from them was, other than the playoffs, this is the best day, of the year.

So, to enjoy it, and I- I think that'll be easy being in the setting, the ballpark we're in, and then all the preparations that's going in to make this day special.

So yeah, it's unique.

We'll do two more.

Tony, with Jared Oliva being on the team and Koss, you got a lot of speed on this team.

Do you feel like the stolen base is gonna be a big part of your guys', game plan on a, on a day-to-day basis?

I think the biggest thing is just more than last year.

and, you know, last year is mutually exclusive, from now, but there is a carryover effect to an extent.

And as new coaches, all you can do is kinda go off how last year went.

You wanna improve in certain areas to make it feel like you're making an impact, and part of that might be roster decisions or decisions we make over the course of the game.

But yeah, we'd like to be aggressive.

We, we don't have any set plan like we always wanna do this or that.

but it, it was one of the, one of the areas we were looking at when we first got here was speed was lacking last year on the roster.

so he'll, he'll make it an advantage to have a weapon.

And as you said, Koss can do the same.

And it's nice, too, to have guys like Koss that can play a variety of positions.

Oliva's not gonna bat an eye in right, center, or left, if that were to come up.

during the, during the season under special circumstances, do you see Jung Hoo Lee, taking center field again?

Yeah.

I th- I think that's no issue.

he feels comfortable doing that.

And, you know, he's a star for a lot of different reasons.

He's got talent, but, but also just in his country and in general.

Sometimes when you're around stars, they become divas, or they get used to everybody catering to them.

And, you know, you all know him, you know, probably not as well as I do, but everybody that's been around that guy knows he's a confident player, but, he's- his humility and, and humbleness is off the charts.

Tony, on the flip side of the bullpen, you have no left-handed hitters off the bench.

Did Was just that an issue you discussed?

Was that a- Yeah hard, hard thing to get over, or was it, "Hey, if it's the b- best guys we're gonna keep.

If it's gonna be all right-handed bats, that's okay"?

And, in some ways, does it almost make it easier for you as a manager?

You're just not gonna go matchy-matchy as much?

Yeah, I like that last thought.

I'll take anything that's easier.

it, it, it does kinda simplify things, m- maybe is even the better way to say it.

But yeah, it was a, it was a, quite often that was talked about, and, we went round and round, and I've harped on, in here or out in the dugout that if we're gonna make a decision, I want everybody to voice their opinion and come up with all kinds of different scenarios.

So we certainly discussed that.

I think the one thing that gives us comfort is, trust me, everybody, everybody that's behind me or above us, or anywhere else wants to win this game as much as any and also wants to start the season off well.

But I think we took comfort a little bit in the fact that we're gonna use 40 to 50 guys over the course of the year, and we're gonna need a left-handed bat at some point.

And I think the guys that are the major candidates are gonna benefit from getting some repetitions, getting healthy, and, I'm sure they'll be chomping at the bit to get their opportunity.

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