'He can feel that way' - Ken Rosenthal rejects Tony Vitello's version of events leading up to departure from Tennessee

Former Tennessee Vols baseball coach Tony Vitello went viral earlier this week after he opened a media session by questioning when reporters first learned that he was taking the San Francisco Giants' manager job.

Vitello, who had served as the head coach at Tennessee since 2017, agreed to become the Giants' new manager on October 22.

The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal, Andrew Baggarly, and Brittany Ghirolireported on October 18 that San Francisco was "closing in" on Vitello as their next manager.

Vitello maintains that he wasn't in decision mode when that report surfaced in the middle of a Tennessee baseball practice on October 18. And that's why he hadn't told his team or his coaching staff that he was leaving at that point.

“That was not reality at all,” said Vitello. “I don’t know if Buster (Posey) would feel the same way, but that wasn’t the case. Somebody decides they think they’ve got the information (on October 18), but the final blow was about four days later. I’m just kind of having a conversation (with reporters), therapy, if you will, from walking out of there. But I needed confirmation from the coaches that I worked with, that helped boost my status (as a coach), that they were okay with what was going to go on, and that they were going to be okay with their jobs. That staff had always been built as the next man up, and all of a sudden that was being threatened.

“So it’s kind of hard to do something for yourself and then your teammates get left behind. But it was not four days (before it was officially reported), for what it’s worth. That was not the case at all. If you would have seen me in my condo, you would have agreed.”

“Because somebody tweeted it out,” continued Vitello when asked why he was bringing up the timeline. “I don’t know who told them. I wish I did — it might have changed the course of history if I would have known who did it, to be honest with you. But it just bothers me. Because, I don’t know, I hate to get philosophical, but you see people angry on the streets, a lot of times, for stuff that’s not even true. People arguing and they don’t know what reality is. But I did a really damn good job of keeping that away from our team and recruiting, and it was not a distraction. And then all of a sudden, in the middle of a practice, I see our first and third base coaches freaking out. And they freaked out on me, too. And for no reason, because at that point, nothing was going to happen, but somebody decided that it was going to happen. And then the whole world starts spinning real, real quick. I had to address the team, and people said either that or me leaving was a distraction. Those guys are SEC athletes. They ain’t distracted by me."

Vitello's comments to the media on Monday came shortly after he filmed an interview with Rosenthal for Fox Sports. The report from October, according to Rosenthal, was not mentioned by Vitello during the filming of the interview.

Ken Rosenthal reacts to Tony Vitello's comments

Rosenthal, who is one of the top MLB insiders, reacted to Vitello's comments Thursday on Fair Territory.

"He (Vitello) is obviously a guy who is new to the major league experience," said Rosenthal. "He is not new to baseball and competitive baseball. He did it at a high level at Tennessee -- we all know that. The comments that he made in the press conference the other day, he started his press conference, his daily news briefing with reporters, by talking about the fact that it got out that he was going to be perhaps the Giants' manager before maybe he wanted it to get out.

"Now, I was one of the people who wrote that story, with Brit Ghiroli and Andrew Baggarly. And what we wrote at the time was that the Giants were closing in on the hiring of Vitello. We didn't write that he had an offer. We just wrote that he was the target. He was the guy. Now, I haven't spoken specifically to Tony Vitello about this. He didn't bring it up to me, but if he does, I will tell him, 'Listen, this is what we were hearing.' And I know the timing probably didn't work out too well for him. Maybe he hadn't informed players and coaches at Tennessee, and even family members, people he was close with, about how this was going and where it was going. But we were hearing it, and we were hearing it from credible enough sources to publish. Of course, he gets named the Giants' manager as well. So obviously we were on the right track. He might not have liked the timing, but our obligation is to our readers, and that is what we did there."

"The report about the Giants closing in was, in his mind, premature," added Rosenthal. "And ok, he can feel that way. But again, we had what we had, and we felt compelled to publish, and that is why we published."

Here's what the report from The Athletic on October 18, which is the report Vitello took issue with, said:

"Industry sources confirmed that the Giants are closing in on hiring Tony Vitello, a 47-year-old Division I head coach who transformed the University of Tennessee from a bottom-feeder in the Southeastern Conference into one of the most talented programs in the country. The Giants did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Vitello, reached via text message, said, 'There is nothing to confirm.' Should they cross the finish line, Vitello’s hiring for a major-league managerial position would be an extraordinary and nearly unprecedented leap for someone with no professional coaching experience."

The Athletic was somewhat vague in their reporting -- they didn't report that an offer had been made. But they certainly seemed to indicate that Vitello was the top target, and that San Francisco was working toward making him their guy.

The report also notes that Vitello responded to a text from The Athletic. Now, I'm not sure if the line about Vitello's text was in the original report, or if it was added after an update. If it was in the original report, then Vitello should've known that a report was on the way from The Athletic. But again, someone from The Athletic would need to confirm when that part was added to the report.

Ultimately, this is a situation where I believe the timing was simply unfortunate for Vitello.

Rosenthal, Baggarly, and Ghiroli have a job to do.

At the same time, Vitello, who says he had made no decision at the time of The Athletic's report (and the report didn't say he had), wanted to handle things a certain way. Unfortunately, if insiders have good information, and it appears The Athletic did, then they're going to run with the story whether or not the timing is good for the affected party. That's how it goes in pro sports.

I don't think the media reaction to Vitello's comments has been fair. I think he has the right to be authentic and express his feelings. I also think insiders have a job to do -- it's why readers pay a monthly subscription to read The Athletic (perhaps the closest thing we have to old school newspaper writing left). Both things can be true.

My advice to Vitello, not that he needs my advice, would be to leave this in the past. Nothing can be changed about it now. Right, wrong, or indifferent, it is what it is. It happened.

The only thing Vitello can do now is win games with the Giants to prove that he was the right hire.