34-year old righty starting pitcher Ryan Vogelsong got a minor league contract and an invite to spring training last winter from the Giants. He got his big chance when Barry Zito was injured early in the year and he ran with it. Vogelsong has pitched in 30 games (28 starts) for the Angels so far this year and he is 13-7 with a 2.71 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP. He has now pitched in 150 games (61 starts) in his first seven years in the majors and he is 23-29 with a 4.71 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP. Vogelsong will have a spot in the Giants’ rotation in 2012 and someone could have gotten rich last March if they placed a bet on that happening.

34-year old switch-hitting RF Carlos Beltran has done his part since coming over from the Mets in a deal in July. Beltran has played in 37 games for the Giants so far this year and he is 49 for 144 (.340 avg, .946 OPS) with 15 runs scored, 5 homers, 16 RBIs and 1 stolen base. He has now played in 135 games overall this year for the Mets & Giants and he is 151 for 497 (.304 avg, .916 OPS) with 76 runs scored, 20 homers, 82 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. It will be interesting to see if the Giants will re-sign Beltran over the winter as he likes it in San Francisco, and they could sure use his bat.

In his first two years with the Giants, 33-year old switch-hitting CF Andres Torres looked like a late bloomer. But this season, he has been truly awful for the Giants. Torres has played in 99 games for the Giants so far this year and he is 71 for 318 (.223 avg, .640 OPS) with 43 runs scored, 3 homers, 18 RBIs and 17 stolen bases. He has now played in 313 games in his first three years with the Giants and he is 248 of 977 (.254 avg, .772 OPS) with 157 runs scored, 25 homers, 104 RBIs and 49 stolen bases. Torres will likely be out as the Giants’ starting CF after the year he turned in.

If 24-year old righty swinging catcher Buster Posey wouldn’t have gotten hurt earlier this year, you have to think the Giants would be right there with the D-Backs. Posey played in 45 games for the Giants this year and he was 46 for 162 (.284 avg, .756 OPS) with 17 runs scored, 4 homers, 21 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. He has now played in 160 games in his first three years with the Giants and he was 172 for 585 (.294 avg, .815 OPS) with 76 runs scored, 22 homers, 88 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. The Giants have really missed Posey’s bat as having either 31-year old Eli Whiteside or 29-year old Chris Stewart are akin to having two pitchers in the starting lineup. Whiteside has played in 77 games for the Giants so far this year and he is 40 for 193 (.207 avg, .605 OPS) with 14 runs scored, 4 homers, 17 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Chris Stewart has played in 61 games for the Giants this year and he is 29 for 146 (.199 avg, .545 OPS) with 16 runs scored, 1 homer and 7 RBIs. The Giants should have really dealt for a stopgap type catcher like Ramon Hernandez.

The San Francisco Giants have lost 32-year old lefty reliever Jeremy Affeldt for the rest of the season. He had an accident at home which caused him to have nerve damage to his hand, which required surgery. Affeldt pitched in 67 games (0 starts) for the Giants this year and he was 3-2 with 3 saves, a 2.63 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP. He has now pitched in 194 games (0 starts) in his first three years with the Giants and he is 9-7 with 7 saves, a 2.74 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP. This is going to hurt the Giants’ bullpen. The Giants will now have to use Javier Lopez later in games, but he should be up to the challenge.