Giants winners, losers from spring training ahead of Opening Day

Whether the Giants turn out to be an exciting team remains to be seen, but they are an interesting one, for sure.And that’s something to be said for what has been baseball’s blandest organization.The most beloved player in recent franchise history is running their front office.

He hired a total unknown to try to do something never done before as their manager.It’s been about four months since Buster Posey introduced Tony Vitello at Oracle Park and four weeks or so since pitchers and catchers reported to Scottsdale, Arizona, for Vitello’s first spring training as a major-league manager.The fiery former University of Tennessee coach still has lots of questions left to answer as he blazes the trail from college ranks straight to The Show.But we’ve seen enough to assess some winners and losers so far:It would be hard to say Vitello hasn’t second-guessed his choice to put ambition and a change of scenery ahead of loyalty and familiarity in Knoxville.

More on that in a second.But he’s here.He’s doing it.

And it doesn’t look any different from the other 29 dugouts across Arizona and Florida.The milestone won’t become official until March 25, Opening Night against the Yankees, when Vitello’s career win-loss record at any level of professional baseball reflects anything other than zeroes.The games don’t count for now, but his team is off to a rollicking start nevertheless.

Heading into Thursday, they owned the best record of any team in the Cactus or Grapefruit leagues — 15-3 — with a plus-47 run differential that also leads every team in spring training.Vitello, himself, didn’t start off on such a strong note.The rookie manager immediately raised questions about his commitment to and readiness for the job when he questioned the circumstances around his hiring in one of his first sessions with reporters.In what he called a “tangent,” Vitello began by telling the scrum “new format today” and turning questions around on them about the ...