What Tony Vitello must change to save his job with the SF Giants

The San Francisco Giants have shown some signs of life recently — six wins in their last 10 games! — but at 20-27 and buried in fourth place in the NL West, it's hard to avoid the sense that what began as a season with postseason aspirations has already gone bust. And that puts loads of pressure on the team's manager, Tony Vitello: San Francisco's highest-paid players aren't going anywhere, and lord knows no one's firing franchise legend Buster Posey, so the natural fall guy for a disappointing season is the manager whose hiring everyone questioned in the first place.

That is, unless Vitello can turn it around and convince fans and his front office alike that he's the right man to lead this team into what will presumably be a new era. He can't swing the bat or take the mound himself, but he can control the things he's responsible for, starting with the moves below.

Drop Jung Hoo Lee from the leadoff spot

Lee fits the mold of a leadoff hitter circa 1990, a high-contact, low-pop hitter who hardly ever strikes out. But most of the contact he makes isn't good contact, and his inability to work counts or take a walk means that he consistently runs below-average on-base percentage — hardly the thing you want out of a guy hitting directly in front of your most impactful hitters.

And yet, Vitello has actually hit Lee in the No. 1 hole more this month, despite the fact that he's posting a .246 OBP with a sub-.600 OPS. It's not the only or even the biggest thing ailing this Giants offense right now, but unlike the struggles of San Francisco's biggest bats, it is the one thing directly under Vitello's control. Lee got dropped to ninth in the order for Sunday's win over the A's, so hopefully that's a sign of things to come.

Please just be a little bit more normal to the media

Look, I don't want to pile on too hard here. Vitello is a bit of an odd duck, and at a certain point that became a self-fulfilling prophecy, with media and onlookers all too willing to pounce on whatever soundbite came next — especially as the losses piled up. If the Giants were seven games above .500 rather than seven games below, his penchant for name-dropping Kanye in press conferences wouldn't be nearly as big of a story.

And yet ... well, the Giants are seven games below .500 right now, and it's part of a manager's job to limit outside noise as much as possible. It would be one thing if Vitello were acting as a sort of heat shield, taking criticism so his players don't have to. But every time he sticks himself out there, it just becomes one more thing reporters are going to ask about in the clubhouse, not to mention one more thing causing everyone to wonder whether he really is the right guy for this job.

Find ways to get both Casey Schmitt and Bryce Eldridge in the lineup

While players with far bigger names and far bigger salaries continue to struggle, Schmitt has been arguably San Francisco's best hitter to date, with an .875 OPS and eight homers across his first 39 games. Eldridge, meanwhile, is the team's top hitting prospect, recently called up for another stint in the Majors as Buster Posey cranked up the heat on a struggling offense. The only problem is that Eldridge can pretty much only play first base or DH — and with the Giants' other infield spots occupied, so too is Schmitt.

That lead to one or the other sitting far too often, an inexcusable sin considering Schmitt's performance so far and Eldridge's importance to the franchise's long-term outlook. Which is why Monday's lineup was such an encouraging sign, with Schmitt kicking out to left field and clearing out the DH spot for Eldridge. Of course, that's only made possible thanks to usual left fielder Heliot Ramos heading to the IL, and there's no telling how things will shake out once Ramos returns. But there's no way that either Schmitt or Eldridge should be sitting on a regular basis moving forward.

Help adjust a broken approach at the plate

Ultimately, Vitello can't wave a magic wand and make Rafael Devers, Willy Adames or Matt Chapman start hitting up to their reputations. But he and his coaching staff are responsible for putting their players in the best possible position, and a peek under the hood reveals that something might be structurally wrong with the Giants offense right now.

More specifically: Few teams are walking less and hitting the ball into the ground more than San Francisco, two developments that run contrary to how the modern game is played. It's very, very hard to score runs when you're not taking free bases and you're not lifting the ball in the air, and while Vitello can't take at-bats himself, there's plenty of evidence to suggest that these changes in approach can be worked on developmentally.

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