What advice did baseball sage Dusty Baker offer Giants' rookie manager Tony Vitello?

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Dusty Baker, San Fransisco Giants Special Advisor to Baseball Operations, right, is interviewed by F.P. Santangelo during FanFest at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, Calif. on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (Chris Kaufman/For the S.F. Chronicle)


WEST SACRAMENTO - With his knowledge base and status in the game, Dusty Baker is always a major asset wherever he's working. In his advisory role with the San Francisco Giants, the team's former manager will be even more of a plus.

Baker only spoke to Tony Vitello once before the Giants hired him out of the college ranks, but he's sure to be a major sounding board for San Francisco's new manager, and his first bit of advice for Vitello is simple.

"Just be yourself," Baker said. "You can't be anybody but you. They hired you for you."

Baker described his initial thoughts when Buster Posey hired a manager with zero pro experience of any kind as "‘Bold move!' And I was like, ‘Well, if that's what upstairs wants, they do what they want to do, you know?'"

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San Francisco Giants fans wait in line during the Giants FanFest at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, Calif. on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (Chris Kaufman/For the S.F. Chronicle)


Baker is more concerned that in recent years there's been a shift in the sport toward inexperienced managers and away from older candidates, particularly minorities. Baker said he had benefited from a push by Frank Robinson and Hank Aaron to increase the number of black managerial and coaching candidates more than 30 years ago, and Baker long has tried to do the same when there are jobs open. He's not seeing much interest from teams.

"In a lot of ways, baseball is progressive, but also has regressed," he said. "I can tell by the calls that I get, especially from minority guys or veteran guys who have been in the game that don't have jobs. I don't have the power to hire and fire, but they're calling me and asking for advice, every day, all winter. There are a lot of guys who have left a big, immense elephants' burial ground. I wish some of these guys could get jobs."

Asked if the Giants' interviewing Kurt Suzuki as their lone minority managerial candidate was satisfactory, Baker responded, "Hardly (any team) interviewed any minorities, nobody. … This is probably the most available jobs that I can recall, and you look at it and there's very few American-born African Americans, very few coaches, very few in front offices, sometimes on the field there are as many (black) umpires as there are players."

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Dusty Baker, Special Advisor to Baseball Operations with the San Fransisco Giants, signs autographs during FanFest at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, Calif. on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (Chris Kaufman/For the S.F. Chronicle)


Asked which candidates he might have recommended to the Giants, Baker demurred, but he did note that new infield coach Ron Washington, the former Rangers and Angels manager, is one of his good friends and a former teammate in Los Angeles. That addition has Baker beaming.

"He's a great baseball man and that's going to help the organization and it's going to help Tony to run things by him," Baker said.

With six first-time managers this season, and nine new managers overall, Baker emphasized that Vitello isn't alone, despite his lack of pro exposure.

"Nobody has experience," Baker said, adding Vitello, "doesn't have pro experience, but he has as much experience or more (leading a team) than some of the new managers that were hired. And with the help that's available now - it's not easy to manage but it's not that complicated, because so much of it is scripted out."

Baker is spending a few weeks in the coming month managing Nicaragua in the World Baseball Classic, but he expects to be at the Giants' spring-training camp at some point, especially with his son, Darren, now with the White Sox, who train on the other side of Phoenix. He'll also pop into Oracle Park a few times a month, and Sutter Health Park to see Triple-A Sacramento now and then, too.

He likes the look of the Giants' roster and believes the trade deadline will offer another opportunity to make a big addition; as tough as it might be to compete with the Dodgers in the division, Baker noted that nobody is spending like Los Angeles, "and it's not like the Giants aren't spending."

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Dusty Baker, San Fransisco Giants Special Advisor to Baseball Operations, center right, walks off the dugout after being interviewed by F.P. Santangelo during FanFest at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, Calif. on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (Chris Kaufman/For the S.F. Chronicle)


Should they want to spend a little more - and they're already over $200 million in payroll - Baker is a big fan of Framber Valdez, who pitched for him in Houston. A report out of the Dominican Republic this week connected San Francisco to Valdez, though Posey played down the idea of adding a big-name starter Friday, saying the front office is happy with the rotation.

"I love Framber," Baker said, adding later, "but can we afford him? That ain't my money."

More than 10,000 people attended Saturday's FanFest and Baker was among the big draws along with shortstop Willy Adames, All-Star starter Robbie Ray and left fielder Heliot Ramos. The venue serves as the Triple-A River Cats' stadium - but it's also now the Sacramento A's home, making it something of a strange setting for the Giants' third FanFest locale after San Jose and San Ramon.

Asked if it was the first time he's attended a FanFest in an opponent's ballpark before, Ray laughed and said, "Yes, it is. It's a little unorthodox, but we'll make it work."

This article originally published at What advice did baseball sage Dusty Baker offer Giants' rookie manager Tony Vitello?.

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