Cap Space: Vitello's Empty Ejections

Listen, I've seen it all in this game, and if you're going to play the bad guy, you better actually make it mean something.

Take a look at Wednesday's loss to the Kansas City Royals. As Yahoo Sports first reported, a "phantom push" ruling derailed the San Francisco Giants' momentum, sparking a five-run rally and a 5-4 defeat. In the heat of the moment, manager Tony Vitello found himself in the showers for the third time this season.

Here is the problem: Vitello didn't get his money's worth. Yahoo Sports reports that while Vitello's frustration was directed at second base umpire Mike Estabrook, it was third base umpire Lance Barrett who tossed him. Dave Flemming noted that Barrett tends to speak to players as if they are his children. Vitello, however, didn't exactly bring the fire. He wasn't vehement, he didn't kick dirt, he didn't throw equipment, and he didn't question any umpire's parentage. He simply got bounced while walking toward the dugout.

**OPINION:** In my book, if you're going to risk the stability of your bench and the rhythm of your staff—and Yahoo Sports notes that pitcher Landen Roupp got out of rhythm following the ejection—you have to actually shift the energy of the game. Vitello is managing a team that sits at 42-60, just two games better than the worst club in the majors. When you're playing that poorly, an ejection should serve as a wake-up call to snap a complacent roster out of its funk. Instead, this felt like a formality that helped nobody.

Vitello's current tally of three ejections is a far cry from the legends of the game. Yahoo Sports points out that rookie managers like Roger Bresnahan (1909) and Johnny Evers (1913) tied the record with 10 ejections in a single 154-game season. Even modern figures like David Bell managed eight ejections in 2019, matching the Giants' rookie franchise record set by Bill Rigney in 1956. Then you have the all-time greats: John McGraw hit double-digit ejections twice for the Giants, and Bobby Cox finished his career with 162 tosses.

Vitello was brought in because of the preparation and process he displayed at Tennessee. But as the Giants continue to vacillate between over-managing and under-managing—like the time in April when Vitello failed to challenge a dropped liner by TJ Friedl off a Luis Arraez hit—he needs to find a gear that actually impacts the game.

There are 60 games left in the season. If Tony V. is going to keep getting tossed, he needs to stop being a passenger in his own ejections and start using them to ignite a team that desperately needs a spark.