Even before his nightmarish start on Monday in Colorado, Ryan Vogelsong appeared to be the weakest link in the Giants' rotation through the first three weeks of the season.
Now with a 7.71 ERA to date, it's tough to make a case that he isn't.
After lasting an inning and a third on Monday, Vogelsong has pitched just 16.1 innings over his first four starts this year.
Frankly, that's not an acceptable number, even for pitchers much less talented than Vogelsong.
So what can the Giants do?
Simply, they either keep the faith in a Vogelsong rebound, or they look for other options. Here are two perspectives on the Vogelsong situation:
The case for Vogelsong: 
The stats are ugly, but they actually do a disservice to Vogelsong's performance thus far.
As far as the team goes, individual statistics don't really matter as long as the team is winning.
And the Giants are doing that, kind of. The team is 2-2 in his starts, meaning even if he isn't pitching deep into games, he's at least giving the team a chance to win (with the exception of his latest start).
He surely pitched well enough to deserve a win against the Dodgers (six innings, one run), a game the Giants eventually won in extra innings.
In the start prior to that, he gave up four runs in five innings against the Diamondbacks and actually had nothing to do with the eventual loss, as the bullpen ultimately blew the lead and gave up the winning run in extra innings.
Sure, he'll eventually have to start pitching more innings, but the team results aren't all that bad when you examine them further.
Also, his latest start is one of the worst he's had in three seasons as a Giant, so it's not as if he's routinely pitched clunkers.
Every pitcher gets a pass on a terrible start every once and a while – it just seems amplified because we aren't used to blow-ups of that magnitude with Vogelsong.
Finally, even if Vogelsong is the weakest starter in the rotation, that doesn't mean he's the weakest pitcher on the team.
Bumping him from the rotation is only plausible if the Giants feel they have a better candidate to replace him. It doesn't appear that they do.
Petit and Huff are options, as is a guy like Mike Kickham (currently in Triple-A), but realistically none of them are good bets to put up significantly better numbers than Vogelsong would as a full-time starter.
Given Vogelsong's track record, the team isn't likely to push him to the bullpen unless they are positive it will benefit the team, and considering the current alternatives, there's no guarantee it would.
The case against Vogelsong:
As previously stated, Vogelsong has pitched 16.1 innings in four starts this year – that's roughly four innings per start.
Outings that short affect more than just that isolated game, snowballing the problem.
When the bullpen is asked to pick up the slack – especially five, six, or seven innings at a time – it effects their availability for the next couple of games.
Without a full bullpen, more pressure falls on the other four starters to pitch deep into games to offset that shortage. As the season goes on, the added wear and tear is going to effect the entire staff.
Every time Vogelsong can't pitch at least five innings (half of his starts so far), he's hurting the entire pitching staff in the long run.
Rough Aprils aren't unheard of for even the best pitchers in baseball, but Vogelsong has shown consistent signs of decline over the last two years.
Given that trend, along with his age, it's harder to chalk up his early season struggles to simply adjusting to the regular season workload.
It's entirely possible the Giants have seen the best that Vogelsong has to offer, meaning the 5.73 ERA of 2013 is a more accurate representation of his current skill level than the 3.04 ERA he averaged in 2011-12.
For a team expected to contend this year, it's not likely they would thrust an unproven pitcher into the rotation, unless they had no other options.
However, expecting to contend is a double-edged sword – if Vogelsong continues to struggle, the team can't afford to have a hole in their rotation every fifth day.
If the number five starter is going to struggle, the Giants would benefit much more from it being a young pitcher learning to adjust at the major league level than a 36-year-old veteran who will likely be gone after this year.
Even if the team doesn't want to dip into the minor leagues right now, giving Petit a couple of starts likely won't hurt the team any more than continuing to roll Vogelsong out there.
Final Verdict:
The most realistic outcome – at least for the short-term – is that Vogelsong is given a leash to work through his struggles. The team isn't going to push the panic button less than a month into the season, especially on a guy who has had success before.
However, if we're still talking about Vogelsong's struggles this time next month, it's very likely the team will be exploring other options.
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