The 2011 season has already seen several serious injuries to superstar players, and yet another one took place this week when Giants catcher Buster Posey suffered a devastating season-ending leg injury.

During a play at the plate in Wednesday night's contest, Marlins outfielder Scott Cousins collided with Posey and the young catcher's leg twisted awkwardly.  Replays revealed that Posey's spikes were stuck in the dirt and didn't give out when Cousins struck him.

It came to light Thursday morning that Posey suffered a leg fracture and will miss the rest of the 2011 season, and an upcoming MRI may reveal torn ligaments as well (source: MLB.com).  Regardless of what the upcoming MRI reveals, club officials didn't sound hopeful about Posey's condition, and only time will tell whether this incident will have a lasting effect on the career of the 2010 National League Rookie of the Year Award winner.

In the meantime, the Giants will install backup catcher Eli Whiteside as the full-time starter behind the plate, and they've recalled first base prospect Brandon Belt from Triple-A Fresno.  There is some speculation that the Giants may attempt to sign veteran catcher Bengie Molina, but nothing official was revealed at the time of this article.  Posey had been putting up solid numbers so far in 2011, with a .284 average, a .368 on-base average, 4 home runs, and 21 RBI, which are very good numbers but off-pace from his stellar rookie year.  The Giants can only hope that Belt hits better in his second major league opportunity than he did in his first stint to help make up for the loss of Posey's bat.

From a fantasy standpoint, there is no easy fix for the loss of a good offensive catcher.  Some other young catchers like Jonathan Lucroy and J. P. Arencibia have been solid with the bat this year, but neither has the kind of upside that Posey had for a fantasy team.  The fantasy baseball catching position has been slightly deeper than expected in 2011, and the best advice is to scan the fantasy waiver wire for a solid offensive contributor at the catching spot.  If there aren't any good options out there, a trade may be necessary, but catchers are a very valuable fantasy commodity and it's never a simple replacement.