Ryan Vogelsong has had a storied past couple of seasons. After being drafted by the San Francisco Giants back in 1998 and making his debut in 2000, he has been bounced around the majors and even had a stint in Japan for the Hanshin Tigers of the Nippon Professional Baseball League. Vogelsong has dealt with every emotion an athlete could possibly have on the field. He has won a World Series, had double digit wins two years in a row (before 2011 he had never won more than 6 games in the majors), and has gained admiration and adoration from the passionate fan base that calls AT&T Park home. He has also been told he is not good enough to pitch at the major league level, lost more games than he has won in his MLB career, and seems like he might be falling back into his old ways this season.
It is more than slightly concerning that a man who is 35 years old (36 on July 22) has a 7.78 ERA, a 1.73 WHIP, and has a 1-3 record in seven starts this season. More concerning than these numbers is that in six consecutive starts at the end of 2012, Vogelsong gave up no less than 3 earned runs until he locked it up in his final three starts where he allowed no more than one earned run in each start. This season, he has yet to have a start where he has allowed less than 3 earned runs. He has also yet to throw more than 7.0 innings, throwing 7.0 twice, and has only gone 6.0 innings in one other start. 
The question facing Giants fans and the top brass for the Black & Orange is whether Mr. Comeback has enough left in him this year to help the team win its third World Series in four years or if he has better value as trade bait to get something in return before his luck runs out. I cannot think of a reason not to at least entertain the thought process of trading away fan favorite, Ryan Vogelsong. Let me restate a couple of points for you….he is 35, going on 36. This is a young mans game, he has pitched just under 200 innings in both 2011 and 2012. His career ERA in the majors is 4.53, but he is 3.25 above that number right now. His career WHIP is 1.42, he sits at a 1.73 as of his last start.
This could be the beginning of a storybook ending to a career that has shown Vogelsong ups & downs, ultimate triumphs and devastating losses. The upper management in the Giants organization has a lot of thinking to do in regards to what to do with such a key component to their World Series run last year. Vogelsong is one person I think could pull out of this and still have a solid 2013 season still, but I am not counting on it. I am in no way saying that Vogey is going anywhere, but Giants fans may need to start to prepare for life after Ryan.
