Some brief notes…

• Pablo Sandoval and a slew of other players will head to Taiwan for a five-game All-Star series (November 1-6). The team will be managed by Bruce Bochy, and they’ll be playing the Chinese Taipei national team.
• A number of Giants prospects are currently playing in fall/winter leagues in Arizona, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic. Among those playing in the Arizona Fall League are Joe Panik, Brandon Crawford, and Gary Brown, in addition to several intriguing arms. Brown has hit a very underwhelming .220/.278/.300 in 50 ABs thus far, and Keith Law has said that Brown is struggling to get his hands going. Crawford, on the other hand, is thriving: .353/.389/.588 in 34 ABs thus far. These are, of course, small samples — and should be taken with a grain of salt. Kevin Goldstein has raved about Gary Brown, and dubbed him the “best third outfielder in the history of the league.” He was recently clocked by Law at 3.96 seconds from home to first base, which is pretty remarkable for a right-handed hitter. Law isn’t very high on Crawford, and said today that he doesn’t see him “hitting even an empty .250 (and it would be an empty one).” Those playing in Winter Leagues include Brandon Belt, Francisco Peguero, and Ehire Adrianza. Sfgiantsgirl has been keeping track of all of this, posting daily recaps which are worth checking out.
• Ryan Vogelsong is up for a Player’s Choice Comeback Player of the Year award. This was brought up a lot when Lance Berkman was named Comeback Player of the Year, but I’m not really sure if what he did technically qualifies as a “comeback.” In any event, his story is deserving of some kind of award, whether it’s called a “comeback” or something else. In addition, Andres Torres is up for an MLBPAA Heart & Hustle Award. You can vote for him up until 5pm on November 1st.
• Tim Flannery is holding a musical benefit for Bryan Stow. It will be held on November 9th at Yoshi’s, and you check out the details here.

– An article in the San Francisco Chronicle today talks about the possible return of formerly heralded Giants prospect Angel Villalona:

Staci Slaughter, senior vice president of communications, said the Giants expect to resolve a $5 million breach-of-contract lawsuit that Villalona filed against the team in the Dominican Republic. Villalona would report to the Giants’ academy there to resume his baseball work.

Back in 2008, he was named the 33rd best prospect in baseball by Baseball America, and he came in at #44 the next year. Project Prospect wrote about Villalona in March of 2009, concluding that “largely due to his poor walk rate — 2nd-worst in the South Atlantic League last year — we see Villalona as a guy who still has some major adjustments to make if he’s ever going to find success in the big leagues.” He’s still just 21 years old.

– When Clayton Tanner was released by the Giants, Andrew Baggarly tweeted that Sabean had called it a “paper move,” and that the team was in the process of re-signing him. It appears, however, that Tanner has caught on with the Cincinnati Reds’ organization.

– Buster Posey seems to be doing well in his recovery:

More than three months after his leg injury, Buster Posey walks without a limp and says without reservation that he’ll be the Giants’ Opening Day catcher in 2012.

He’ll head to Arizona soon to continue rehab, writes John Shea.

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The Giants are set to face the DBacks in several hours: it’ll be Ian Kennedy v. Tim Lincecum.

Tonight’s lineup, via @SFGiants:

Tonight’s #SFGiants lineup: Ross cf, Keppinger 2b, Beltran rf, Sandoval 3b, Burrell lf, Huff 1b, Cabrera ss, Stewart c, Lincecum p