Vogelsong, Giants Take Rockies Series

As the weeks go by, Giants fans have been waiting for Vogelsong to come crashing back to earth, but the 33 year-old right-hander has just kept getting stronger and stronger with the more time he gets.

Last year, the Giants got the great performance from Andres Torres, who's already over 30, and nobody had any big expectations for. This year, their getting that same effective play out of Vogelsong, who moved to 4-1 with a 1.68 era and a 1.04 WHIP after beating the Rockies and Jason Hammel Sunday at AT&T Park. While Barry Zito's expected to make a start for San Jose Monday night, I don't think there is anything he can do at this point that would put him back on the big league roster. It's been speculated how well Zito would work in relief, but I think that's the approach the Giants should be taking with him. He's been starting games all his life and if they need to move him back into the rotation, it shouldn't be any problem whatsoever. He can actually help the team coming out of the pen, where they're only getting consistent left-handed relief out of Javier Lopez (although Jeremy Affeldt has been coming along better lately). But right now, the only person who can bounce Vogelsong from this rotation should be himself. At this pace, it would be tough for Bruce Bochy not to select the right-hander for the NL All-Star team next month in Arizona, never mind taking him out of the Giants rotation. The only pitcher that's been close to Vogelsong in his 8 starts this year, has been Tim Lincecum, and even Lincecum doesn't have as low of era as Vogelsong. So, even if Zito throws back-to-back perfect games in the minor leagues, until Vogelsong hiccups, or somebody else gets hurt, he doesn't belong in the Giants starting rotation.

A player who is coming back to earth a little after a big first week, is rookie shortstop Brandon Crawford. The 24 year-old had just 1 hit in the Rockies series and committed 2 errors over the weekend. I'd still trot him out there until his average dips below .200, as his defense is still so much of an upgrade to Tejada's, that it would be worth the lesser bat in exchange for that great glove. That said, the Giants aren't scoring a bunch of runs, so they need all the offense they can get in their lineup, and for that reason, I'm not sure how much longer the Giants will stick with the light-hitting shortstop unless his bat starts heating up again. Still, that said, I think the Giants should be focusing their search on catchers right now, as they badly need to upgrade Whiteside and Stewart if they're indeed serious about contending for another World Series. I think they can get by with the combination of infielders they have now, whether it be Burris or Crawford or even Tejada again at shortstop, they have options. At catcher, they simply don't. It hasn't been a huge problem thus far, but right now, they're essentially getting no production from the catching position after starting the year with their cleanup-hitting catcher. That's what's going to weigh this team down come August and September if they don't upgrade, and I said it as soon as Posey went down! No longer is shortstop atop the Giants priority list, they need a MLB caliber starting catcher, which they simply don't have.

Draft Day Monday: I didn't get the chance to preview the draft as much as I'd liked to before the first day of selections, but I have an idea of who could possibly fall to the Giants at pick 29. The highly respected Rivals Draft site has them mocked to select Hawaii second basemen Kolton Wong, as he looks much like a 2nd coming of Freddy Sanchez, with a great average and defense but average power at best. I say they take the best available player, whether it be a pitcher or hitter. Most people believe they need to focus on offense, but if some strong pitcher falls to them like Taylor Jungmann, Matt Barnes or high school lefty, Henry Owens. But I think it will ultimately be an outfielder. I'd like it to be the Miami JC outfielder Brian Goodwin or high school outfielder Josh Bell, regarded by many as the best prep bat in the draft. These are some of the names to look for as this deep draft falls down to pick #29.