Return of Buster Posey

With the Giants having reported to spring training, all eyes now fall on Buster Posey and his surgically-repaired left ankle. Reports have come out saying that, although he has spent less time behind the plate than would be expected of a catcher, he has shown that he can still bat and catch like the pre-injury Buster Posey. That in and of itself is more important to the success of the Giants than all of Brian Sabean's offseason moves put together.

Buster Posey is the single most important player on the Giants, without question. The pitching staff as a whole is very important, but if you take out any pitcher from the rotation or bullpen, there is another pitcher waiting to take his place straight out of the minors. Eric Surkamp showed last year that he can be a major league starter. Heath Hembree has been generating buzz this offseason and looks to be a key part of this year's bullpen. The pitching staff should still produce even if injuries pile up like last year.

The lineup is not so safe, however. Take Buster Posey out of the equation and our biggest bat becomes Brandon Belt, who only has one season of experience and struggled to hit during that season. This is our lineup without Buster Posey:

Linsanity

With the football season over, my focus turns to hockey. The Sharks are playing pretty average as of late, so you can just say that I've been bored at the lack of intriguing sports stories floating around right now. College basketball doesn't really get interesting for me until March. Soccer doesn't interest me unless the US is playing or it's the FIFA World Cup. The NBA doesn't interest me - well, ever. Until last week that is.

Last week is when I heard about Jeremy Lin. Unlike most people, I knew who Lin was. I remember reading a Sports Illustrated article about him when he was the star of the Harvard basketball team. I remember his run with the Warriors last year where he played sparingly under one-and-done head coach Keith Smart. I don't remember much else. And then, last week, Lin returned. He had a monstrous game against the New Jersey Nets, exploding for 25 points, going 10-19 with 7 assists as well. He followed that up with a 28-point performance against the Utah Jazz in his first start. Then, against the Wizard, he put up 23 points including a monstrous uncontested dunk that capped his breakout week.