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After flirting with the Astros and almost ending up in Houston, starting pitcher Ryan Vogelsong has decided to return to the defending World Series Champions, inking a one-year, $4 million deal to remain a Giant for the fifth year in a row. The contract is also filled with incentives.
#sfgiants: $4 million deal brings happy return for Vogelsongs http://t.co/5q2fvHUEor via @sfchronicle
— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) January 24, 2015
Vogelsong stays with the Giants despite the fact that he might not actually be in the rotation for the first time in his lengthy tenure with the club. Of course, Madison Bumgarner, Tim Hudson, and Jake Peavy occupy three spots, while Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain will fill up the other two, if they are both healthy and ready for the start of the 2015 season. In addition, the emerging Yusmeiro Petit is looming in a swingman role, and may actually secure a slot on the staff at some point during the campaign.
As a result, that would push Vogelsong into a long-relief role, despite a resurgence of sorts in 2014, when he went 8-13 with a 4.00 ERA and 1.28 WHIP in 32 starts. While those numbers are far from spectacular, it did come off the heels of a dreadful 2013 performance, in which Vogelsong was 4-6 with a 5.73 ERA and 1.56 WHIP. Perhaps most importantly, Vogelsong also contributed a series-clinching victory in the NLDS against the Nationals, when he fired 5 2/3 innings of two-hit ball, yielding just one run and striking out four.
Vogelsong returned to the major leagues in 2011 after a few years in Japan, where he tried to reinvent himself following an unsuccessful first stint in the bigs as a member of the Pirates. He was so effective in 2011 that he was actually named a finalist for NL Comeback Player of the Year, an award that ultimately went to Lance Berkman.
