Despite not joining the team this season, the SF Giants have retained director of pitching Brian Bannister on their staff. The SF Giants have not had their director of pitching Brian Bannister with the team this season because of his refusal to get the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a report by Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic. Unvaccinated, Bannister has been prohibited from working in-person with the team by MLB’s COVID guidelines this season. Instead, Bannister has only been able to interface with players at the team facilities via text message, video, or phone calls. While vaccine refusal has been a…