The Giants’ 2019 season opens Thursday afternoon in San Diego, so it’s time to stick my neck out there once again and make some predictions for the 162-game campaign.

My assessment, in short: It’s going to be bad.

But unlike the last two years, when the losing was aimless, this season, the stink is part of the process. That’ll make it interesting — a marked improvement. Life is all about expectations vs. reality and the Giants have come to the reality that they shouldn’t have high expectations for this season.

Last year, I did well on my predictions — you can be the judge of which ones hit — but I’m looking for a perfect 5-for-5 mark in 2019. (If that happens, of course, I’m leaving sports writing and taking a Major League front office job.)

So hold me accountable to these and let me know what your predictions for the season are on Twitter @dkurtenbach.

1. Madison Bumgarner is traded earlier than expected

(For bonus points: he’s traded to the Braves.)

The Giants are in full rebuild mode. It might not seem obvious because the 2019 team so closely resembles the 2018 and 2017 editions of the Giants, but the rebuild is, indeed, on.

And as part of that rebuild, the Giants are not going to offer a new contract to ace Madison Bumgarner. He might be a legend and one of the greatest postseason performers in the history of the game, but it’s bad business for bad teams to give big contracts to post-prime starting pitchers. Sentiment be damned, the Giants are aiming to no longer be in the business of bad business.

Bumgarner is gone at the end of the year — that’s inevitable. So the Giants might as well get something good in return for MadBum.

In many ways, this Giants season — and the next few, too — will be defined by the return for Bumgarner. A player of his caliber has a chance to land a massive bounty, turbo-charging the rebuild.

With a single trade deadline this season (thanks Rob!), the Giants will have to make a move before July 31.

But I think that the Giants will make a move much earlier than the trade deadline. In fact, I’d be surprised if Bumgarner is a Giant come July — no matter what the team’s record is after the first few months.

Teams in the market to acquire Bumgarner will have to take into account that — despite the likely cost (he’s arguably the best pitcher on the trade market) — he could well be a short-term rental. If you’re going to give up top prospects for a player like that, you’d want to get as many games out of Bumgarner as you can.

Or, in other words, if you’re hiring Bumgarner for the playoffs, why not get him to help you in games that would qualify you for the playoffs in the first place?

There’s one team, at the moment, that stands out as a landing spot for Bumgarner — Atlanta.

The Braves won the National League East last year, but they’re lacking a true No. 1 for the rotation. They also have an outstanding farm system that has both top-level players and a slew of interesting mid-level prospects. Most are pitchers, too — 10 of the team’s top 15 prospects, per MLB, are hurlers. Atlanta could move a few to San Francisco and be absolutely a-ok long-term.

The need is there for the Braves. The return the Giants need could easily be arranged. This makes all the sense in the world — there’s no need to cut it close with the deadline.

I’ll call the shot now: Bumgarner to the Braves before the Warriors’ championship parade happens in Oakland. (Yes, that’s a triple prediction — I told you these were bold.)

2. Joe Panik is an All-Star

Panik had an absolutely monster spring, hitting .426 with a .960 OPS. Yes, it’s only 17 games, but you can’t say those numbers aren’t impressive.

I don’t expect the Giants’ second baseman to put up those absurd numbers in the regular season — he’s not a record-setter — but he’s finally healthy, and to expect him to hit above .300 and post an OPS around .775 this season — really good, All-Star quality numbers — isn’t out of reason.

Panik, after all, only had 69 misses on 633 swings in 2018 — this guy can hit.

And I expect him to show it in 2019.

That, of course, might lead to him getting traded at the deadline — but that’s another conversation at a later day.

It also means that Panik will be in Cleveland on July 9. Let’s presume, for now, that he’s representing the Giants.

3. Reyes Moronta saves 20-plus games

Moronta has elite stuff — a 98 mile-per-hour fastball and a wicked slider that had had hitters swinging and missing 47 percent of the time last year.

It’s closer stuff.

And while The Experience isn’t the Giants’ closer now, I fully expect him to ascend to that role and to thrive in it.

Part of that process could be the Giants trading away some bullpen pieces around Moronta — Will Smith and Sam Dyson, if they pitch well, could help the rebuild more by being moved — but his performance might claim him the job anyway.

Moronta is looking to add a changeup to his arsenal for this season. If that is even an average pitch, he has a chance to be one of the best bullpen arms in baseball.

Even without it, he might already be in that class.

We definitely did not talk enough about how strong a 2018 season Reyes Moronta had. pic.twitter.com/FDIYq2x8BZ — Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) February 26, 2019

4. No one hits 20 homers — again

Over the last three seasons — 2016 to 2018 — the Giants are dead last in Major League Baseball in home runs hit, and it’s not even particularly close.

The Giants have 391 homers over the last three years — 14 percent fewer homers than the second-worst homer-hitting team in baseball over that stretch, the Marlins (450).

In this era of power-on-power, the Giants are simply not keeping up with the new way the game is played, at least at the plate. Frankly, it’s stunning that they’re only second-to-last in runs scored over the last three years.

Famously, the Giants have not had a 20-homer hitter since 2015, when Brandon Crawford hit 21. Since then, the Dodgers have posted 17 individual 20-homer seasons (including seven last year), the Yankees 15, and the A’s 12.

My prediction is that the Giants make it four straight seasons without a 20-homer hitter.

The best chances to break through — Evan Longoria and Brandon Belt — are both projected to be fringe 20-homer hitters this season. There’s no doubt that health will play a factor, but even if the two play a full schedule — 150 games or so — it’ll be a challenge for them to get to 20.

And while there’s always the chance for a surprise, that player would really come out of nowhere for the Giants. Mac Williamson would have been a nice dark horse candidate, but he’s not on the Major League roster.

How do you feel about Michael Reed?

Yeah… that’s the sad state of this team’s offense.

The Giants might have top-half pitching — or better (the bullpen could be downright elite) — in 2019, but this squad’s wholesale inability to score runs, through either the long ball or small ball, will torpedo any chances of serious success.

5. Tyler Beede is the team’s best starter in the second half

Beede’s Spring Training stats didn’t impress (6.10 ERA), but it was impossible to not notice his revamped stuff in Arizona — it was downright dominant at times.

Beede was optioned to Triple-A ahead of the beginning of the season so he could stretch out to a starter’s workload, though the team’s plans for him remain murky.

Entering his age 26 season, the former first-round pick has reinvented himself, in a way — he’s lost weight, he’s shortened his delivery, he’s adjusted his grips, and he’s going with a simplified arsenal.

Gone is the two-seam fastball, cutter, and slider. He’s now throwing his four-seam fastball with a tighter grip (which sits in the mid-90s and can reach 98), a curveball that was already good but now has increased spin, and a plus changeup.

It looks like it’s working. In February and March, he posted an 11.32 K/9 rating and earned the announced attention of the front office.

Bumgarner is going to be traded, and by the time that goes down, opening up a rotation spot (if one isn’t opened sooner) I’d bet on Beede being a no-brainer call-up (sorry, Andrew Suarez) and for him to have big-time success at the big-league level in the second half of the year.

• Giants’ predicted 2019 record: 74-88

• Best feature: A lights-out bullpen

• Worst feature: An offense that finishes last in baseball in runs scored

• Breakout player: Moronta/Beede

• Dud player: Evan Longoria