Giants Notes: Fanfest, Posey and Pinella

Well, we won't have to be discussing this offseason for much longer, as pitchers and catchers are set to report to sunny Scottsdale in less than 2 weeks. This time, they'll have a new member roaming the facility, as old Cubs and Mariners manager Lou Pinella officially joined the Giants front office on Monday. With a such quiet spring in which Pinella becoming an assistant makes headlines, it's almost time to lace 'em up and once again start talking actual baseball.

With the Cactus League Opener just 2 weeks away, I figured we'd address some issues heading into spring.

*I don't expect Pinella to appear much with the team at all, taking on a role similar to that of Felipe Alou's a few years back, but I do believe he will have his voice heard in the organization, and although those finals years in ChiTown didn't go as hoped, there are very few baseball minds as experienced as Pinella's. still has plenty to offer a major league organization.

*More so, though, this get's me wondering about the future of Brian Sabean and Bruce Bochy. Boch, I believe, really implanted himself into his role, at least for the foreseeable (3 year). Boch and Sabean are each free after this season, then have options for '12. I don't want to start any speculation, heck, last I heard was that Pinella was done for good and wanted to spend time in his east coast roots. Still though, it makes you wonder when a big name, highly sough-after coach takes an assistant front office job when he's still a capable manager.

*Now, that said, and in Boch's behalf though, if he didn't do enough with that bunch of guys last year and in 2009 for that matter, to earn himself a real extension, then I don't know what else he could possibly do. Even if he tanks in '11, I think the Giants are ready to use an in-house replacement next time and I can think of about 4 that are ripe and ready.

*Giants Fanfest Saturday: Besides the Pinella conspiracy and the Giants potential opening GM and Managerial positions GM'ing the Giants, February has officially arrived, meaning Giants baseball is literally, just around the corner. I mean, Cactus League games start 3 weeks from today with throwers and squatters set to report. I'm pretty stoked for FanFest, as the Giants Baseball Blog will be in full effect (look for us in our Giants Blog Tee-Shirt with the banner logo, or the GBB Black sweatshirt). Anyway, I always have a good time catching up with some of the KNBR staff and talking with some of the players. I don't want to promise anything yet, but there could be a Giants Baseball Blog Player Interview (first ever I might ad) for copyright on the site. Again, no guarantees, as this Fanfest will undoubtedly be the biggest one yet, but we'll do our best. If not a player, hopefully a front office member or coach

*Alright, I was going to use my last GBB Notes bullet to talk about the progression of Freddy Sanchez and Mark DeRosa, but readers can find that anywhere, so instead, here on February 2nd, 2011 , we thought we'd give our Buster Posey predictions for the year. Sorry Fangraph nuts and stat enthusiasts, here's where I think the kid ends up at in 2011 (barring injury of course).

*GBB's Prediction for Buster Posey in 2011 as of 2/2/11:

Games: 137 - AB: 513 - BB: 44 - K: 86 - H:171 - 2B-34 - HR: 22- RBI: 86 - AVG. .307 - OBP. .354 - SLG- .482
*We'll have our projections for all players, as always, once rosters become more set, just figured off we'd start with the offensive poster boy, who will have enormous expectations in 2011. He's I don't even want to mention it because of the luck mentioned with the name, but this kid is Joe Mauer good, easily. Now if only he can play 15+ full seasons.

*To a lesser extent, add Pablo Sandoval and Brandon Belt onto that list as well.