{"id":502933,"date":"2026-01-02T17:11:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T17:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/502933\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T17:11:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T17:11:11","slug":"5-bay-area-sports-figures-to-watch-in-january","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/502933\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Bay Area sports figures to watch in January"},"content":{"rendered":"

This column is an excerpt from our Section 415 newsletter, where we cover the biggest stories in Bay Area sports each Monday and Friday. To sign up, visit The Standard\u2019s\u00a0newsletter page<\/a>\u00a0and select Section 415. It\u2019s free to subscribe!<\/p>\n

In February, Levi\u2019s Stadium will host Super Bowl 60, the Warriors could shake up their roster at the NBA trade deadline, and new Giants manager Tony Vitello will open his first spring training.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a massive month, but what happens in January will shape our expectations for all that lies ahead.<\/p>\n

In the coming weeks, we\u2019ll see if the 49ers win enough games to give Fred Warner a chance to return, if Jonathan Kuminga can reenter the Warriors\u2019 rotation, and if Buster Posey can make a marquee offseason acquisition for the Giants.<\/p>\n

Here are five Bay Area sports figures to watch this month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fred Warner<\/p>\n

The 49ers\u2019 star linebacker and future Hall of Famer dislocated his ankle in October and his season was supposed to be over. No one expected a team without Nick Bosa and Warner to play deep into January anyway, but San Francisco\u2019s surprise surge and Warner\u2019s spirited rehab process have kept the possibility of a postseason return on the table.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If Warner is healthy enough to play in a potential NFC Championship Game, he\u2019ll stabilize a defense that\u2019s been overmatched against the league\u2019s best offenses. As long as quarterback Brock Purdy keeps the 49ers\u2019 offense humming, one of the best coverage linebackers of his generation could be the ultimate playoff X-factor.<\/p>\n

Mike Dunleavy<\/p>\n

From the outside, it appears the Warriors\u2019 general manager is in an impossible position. He has to improve Golden State\u2019s roster without sacrificing too many valuable assets, all while keeping owner Joe Lacob and coach Steve Kerr happy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The path forward almost certainly involves finding a new team for Kuminga, but there\u2019s no clear landing spot. Would Dunleavy consider moving Draymond Green or Jimmy Butler in a deal to acquire another superstar who can help build a bridge to the future?<\/p>\n

The bottom line is that Dunleavy will have to ruffle feathers, but doing so will be a worthwhile endeavor if he can give Steph Curry more help. Whatever happens in the post-Curry era might be the problem for a different GM anyway.<\/p>\n

Greg Johnson<\/p>\n

The Giants\u2019 chairman spoke with The Standard\u2019s John Shea and Tim Kawakami in October and hinted that the team might not spend aggressively this offseason<\/a>. After the front office made several lower-profile moves such as signing Adrian Houser and Tyler Mahle, it appears he wasn’t kidding.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a fool\u2019s errand to judge a team\u2019s potential before the start of spring training, but the Giants have done nothing to indicate they\u2019ll be better in 2026 than they\u2019ve been in the last four disappointing seasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If Johnson doesn\u2019t give Buster Posey the resources to build a better roster, it\u2019s hard to envision Posey wanting to do this job for much longer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Zaileen Janmohamed<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t know Janmohamed\u2019s name yet, you will soon (opens in new tab)<\/a>. The president and CEO of the Bay Area Host Committee played a leading role in the region landing the Super Bowl and the World Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even if Super Bowl festivities won\u2019t begin after the NFC and AFC title games later this month, Janmohamed will likely begin a media tour touting all of the upcoming events \u2013 the Pro Bowl, NFL Honors, a concert series, and more \u2013 in the near future.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tosh Lupoi<\/p>\n

GM Ron Rivera hired the Cal alum and former Jeff Tedford assistant in large part because he\u2019s an elite recruiter. The transfer portal officially opened Friday morning and it\u2019s imperative that Lupoi and his pool of high-profile assistants start using the financial resources Rivera has helped accumulate to add impact players.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unlikely Andrew Luck, Tavita Pritchard, and Stanford will ever be as aggressive in the portal as most ACC teams, but Cal could be different. Lupoi will show us exactly how different very soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This column is an excerpt from our Section 415 newsletter, where we cover the biggest stories in Bay…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2408],"tags":[5,162,1918,4,378,1304,66,4343,4340,4344,4341,4342,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-502933","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-giants","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-giants","10":"tag-golden-state-warriors","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-san-francisco","13":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","14":"tag-san-francisco-giants","15":"tag-sanfrancisco","16":"tag-sanfranciscogiants","17":"tag-sf","18":"tag-sf-giants","19":"tag-sfgiants","20":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115826621387655713","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}