The Rafael Devers incident has sparked what’s become a growing reality for the San Francisco Giants. There seems to be a lack of leadership, both on the field and in the front office.
Devers’ reaction to a pinch-runner sparked outrage across the baseball world. He signaled to the Giants’ dugout that he didn’t want to be run for and sulked afterwards.
Manager Tony Vitello was asked about the incident postgame, video courtesy of NBC Sports Bay Area.
Vitello stays in constant communication with Devers, telling the media they talk every day. It’s unclear if the incident was handled between the two after the presser.
However, that didn’t stop Devers and the organization from taking criticism for the incident.
Buster Posey Addresses Rafael Devers Incident
Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey addressed the media at Oracle Park on June 23. KNBR, the club’s flagship radio station, published the video on X.
“You can tell he’s frustrated,” said Posey. “The way the season’s gone, everybody’s frustrated.”
Posey said he hadn’t talked to Devers since the incident. That prompted ESPN’s Buster Olney to question the Giants’ PBO’s urgency to do his job well.
Posey likened the Devers situation to a past incident involving former Giants reliever Santiago Casilla in May 2016. Casilla showed visible frustration toward manager Bruce Bochy in a relief appearance against the Diamondbacks.
“Sometimes in the heat of the moment, you’re battling, and you want to win a game so bad, stuff comes out and happens you would rather not happen.”
That matter was handled in-house after the game. But Bochy also won three championships with the Giants and Casilla beforehand. In comparison, Tony Vitello’s record as manager invites more scrutiny.
The topic shifted from Devers to the overall leadership in the organization. Vitello was Posey’s first hand-picked manager since taking over the Giants’ baseball operations.
“I feel like Tony has the clubhouse. I think he has the respect of the players in the clubhouse. Everything is going to be heightened when our record is what it is, but there’s no concern on my part that he doesn’t have the respect of the clubhouse.”
The club is currently 15 games under .500 entering their series against the Athletics.
Giants Broadcaster Weighs in on Rafael Devers Incident
With the Rafael Devers incident circulating the baseball world, long-time Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow shared his opinion. Appearing on Murph & Markus on KNBR the day after, Krukow said this.
“We saw the same thing everybody else saw, not good optics,” Krukow told fill-in hosts John Dickinson and Larry Krueger. “It is the right move, you got a guy who’s extremely fast, a basestealer, and he comes out to replace Devers.
“He comes into the dugout and there’s (bench coach) Jayce Tingler, trying to give him an athletic pat with a squeeze. But he avoids him like Tingler has the cheese touch. Which is not a good optic.”
Krukow said he was scratching his head over Jonah Cox not attempting to steal his way into scoring position. The game ended two batters later when Willy Adames grounded into a double play.
The long-time Giants announcer doesn’t call road games, so he wasn’t with the team during the incident. However, Krukow doesn’t believe that manager Tony Vitello has lost the clubhouse yet.
“What I’ve seen when I’ve been around the team in the clubhouse at the ballpark in San Francisco, I think that Tony Vitello is a working manager. He’s all over the place and I think he does have control of the team. That’s why you see something like this that has the bad optics, that we’re all scratching our head with, that’s the first thing you think about.”
Krukow’s sentiments seem to echo Posey’s regarding Vitello’s status with the players. However, things can change if the Giants continue to struggle.
Giants Leadership Faces Questions After Rafael Devers Incident