News broke on Saturday that the San Francisco Giants were going outside the box … extremely outside the box … with their managerial search, and intended to hire University of Tennessee coach Tony Vitello. Yet nearly as soon as The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly, the most trusted voice in Giants reporting, broke the story with a few colleagues, it was met by a tiny splash of cold water from the most trusted voice in national reporting, ESPN’s Jeff Passan, who listed Vitello as the team’s “top target” but cautioned that “the sides have yet to reach a deal.”

Passan noted that the decision was expected to come “in the next 24 to 72 hours” and, well … that was about 40 hours ago. So it stands to reason that today would likely be the day that the news breaks in earnest, and Vitello is formally hire

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