Giants Manager Tony Vitello Should Bottle Up His Blowups for 2027 and Beyond

After two ejections in the past week, the San Fran skipper has gotten it out of his system and should realize he's only getting Pyrrhic victories by arguing with umps now

San Francisco Giants manager Tony Vitello | Credit: Robert Edwards | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Sometimes, it's best to stop holding in your emotions and just let it all go. But too much venting can become overly voluminous for those around you. Especially if those people are authority figures. That's a lesson that rookie manager Tony Vitello got this week, after he was ejected for the second time in just a handful of games.

On Thursday against the Cincinnati Reds, Vitello was ejected after arguing with umpires over a checked swing call that he felt they blew. Despite his tirade, replay showed the crew got it right. However, Vitello may have been more trying to send a message to fire up his team rather than actually taking issue with the official ruling.

This is a hilariously quick hook man, and that’s been a theme with Tony Vitello all year

I’m gonna sound like a conspiracy theorist, but it seems like umpires have a vendetta against him for one reason or another#SFGiants  pic.twitter.com/Pd7eI92JyK

— Coast to Coast Baseball (@C2Cbsbl) August 29, 2026

On Friday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, it was round two in Vitello's battle with the blue brigade. Both he and pitcher Logan Webb were tossed after they argued over a Nolan Arenado hit that was ruled a double.

Vitello and his hurler vehemently disagreed, saying the ball had gone over the bag foul. When the Giants manager made his presence known, an ump was there with a quick hook... and an even shorter fuse.

“If I was going to try and get personal, I would have went to the third-base umpire; it was his call, but I wasn’t looking to get personal,” Vitello said, according to the San Francisco Giants.

The San Francisco skipper also added that the umpiring crew was quick to fire back personally. "The general tone — I mean, I ain’t the smartest guy, but I can pick up on that,” adding that Porter stopped himself before saying more, “so I’ll use my imagination to determine what I think that was.”

Vitello Has Proven His Point

Vitello arguing with umpires | Credit: Peter Aiken | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

After two ejections in the past week, the San Fran skipper has gotten it out of his system and should realize he's only getting Pyrrhic victories by arguing with umps now.

The first can be applauded to a point, as he was imploring his young players - the next generation of Giants - to go into every game with intensity, no matter the stakes. At the same time, the second one in a handful of days feels like overkill.

Also, Vitello is gaining a reputation with the game's on-field arbiters that he doesn't want to become a character profile. If he is known as a confrontational figure, it only throws gasoline on future fires. That could be an albatross and a handicap for a team on the rise.

Once got the message across, the second one seemed like too much talking. So, it's likely best to just bottle that up for later.

It may seem like a small blip on the radar now, but it's a bad precedent to set in a losing season. At 55-80, Vitello's team is going nowhere. So his frustration is understandable, and his passion is admirable.

For now, he might want to save the animosity - and the antacid - over ejections for when they're really going to matter.