The Mets have signed Claudio Vargas to a minor-league deal.
Vargas will report to extended spring training in Port St. Lucie, before joining Triple-A New Orleans.
…i like this, since it is a minor-league deal…he can reach the upper 90s with his fastball, he has a decent curve ball and a ton of potential…if nothing else, he could provide a decent option in the bullpen as the season moves on, should things shake out well for others in the rotation…the point is, it gives the team options with little risk and no guarentee…and i’m all for that, no matter who it is…
Vargas, 29, went 11-6 with one save and a 5.09 ERA in 29 games, including 23 starts, last year for the Brewers.
In 134.1 innings, he allowed 153 hits, 80 runs, with 54 walks and 107 strikeouts.
Vargas is 43-38 in his career, with a 4.95 ERA.
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Good, we need another arm in there.
but how long will it be till he can actually pitch in newyork?
If I am not mistaken I believe that he will first start doing his ST.
About 20 days if nothing goes wrong.
Just about the time that Pedro may be ready.
I would no long count on Hern’z any more.
Great deal, in that it’s a minor league deal. Pelfrey will still get his chances and won’t be sent down based on the contract of a “vet”. I like. Fills the much needed depth issue too.
This is good, this is good. What are the contract details?
It is about time. This is a great signing and only gives Willie more options this summer. With Brian Stokes, Tony Armas Jr, Eddie Kunz, Jon Neise, and now Vargas, we’ll be able to bring up some fresh arms with some pop later in the season and if any of the current guys prove to be ineffective (Schoenweis comes to mind).
If it were up to me, I’d also go out and pick up Robinson Tejada from the Rangers, stick him in AAA and see if they can harness his potential too. He’s like another Ambiroix Burgos from what I hear. It’s about numbers right? Hopefully they do not rush Duaner back too soon but let him take his time until May.
Get as many arms as possible, see who else gets hurt, and who sticks. Simple as that.
Tejda cleared waivers, no reason for the Mets to get him now when they could have had him for nothing.
i like this signing, even tho its sorta like the return of steve trachsel
Yeah, but if you recall, we won for Trachsel. Even if he did have a ERA of 5, we put up more and won the games.
If the Mets follow that same game plan, i’m all for it
Agreed
He’s nothing at all like Trachsel if he can reach the upper 90s
And you can’t knit a blanket between pitches.
Duh … I just got your joke after I posted my comment. Good one! :)
…and he probably works a hell of a lot faster than Trachsel too.
So, what games did Trax reach the upper 90s with his fastball, as Matt points out that Claudio Vargas can do?
As was pointed out in another thread, Vargas had a horrific defense behind him last year. The huge pinball machine that is Miller Park doesn’t help, either.
Thats exciting!
FINALLY!!
this was really all they could do with what they were dealt. in reality, he will not provide what we were all “hoping” el duque would provide.
having another option is nice. let’s hope for the best.
mike difelice 2-4 rbi today
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
YES!!! that is awesome.
Good for him…such a ham n’ egger, but you had to like him. Just an old-school, Crash Davis-type backup C always ready to play and stick up for his teammates.
Claudio works very slowly and has trouble throwing strikes at times, and doesn’t pitch deep into games. Hence the Trax references.
That said, great acquisition. Hopefully we now have enough depth with Vargas and potentially Armas in the mix for those last two spots with Pelf and Figgy. In the best case scenario where Pedro comes back strong, we get a healthy Freddy Garcia and/or Pelf comes into his own, we could be in a position to deal one of these guys for a right handed bat down the road.
I don’t remember ever seeing Vargas hit the upper 90s, but I’ll take Matt’s word for it.
Enter The Jacket
Exactly. Give him a little bit of the Petersen treatment — a little RickRolling — and maybe he can some effectiveness.
Rick will never let down or desert Vargas.
Well they have known each other…for so long…they know the game and they’re gonna play it
I’ve been hoping we’d sign him since his release. I’ve lost faith in Duque. (Dude cant stay on the field) This is a warm body whose numbers are average.Lets see what “the jacket” can do with him.
I just learned on Wikipedia that Vargas has the nickname “Magic Man” for his ability to keep teams from scoring after they have put runners on against him.
Oh well . . . another bullpen killer . . . maybe he *is* channeling Steve Trachsel.
From the Newsday Mets blog:
“In 18.2 innings, he allowed 17 hits, eight runs, earned, with six walks and 10 strikeouts. Opponents hit .238 against him.”
I think the “Magic Man” moniker is outdated. He’ll need a lot of work before he’s ready to pitch for this team.
If he is “Magic Man” than I am El Diablo
shake and bake!!!
ahhh! You got that one in before me!
Highlander, only recieve the award for best movie ever made!
time to move on el duque as a starter guy just can stay healthy, either eat some salary and move him or slot in the bullpen.
Good job, Omar. Vargas is nothing special, but he ought to do a bit better away from Milwaukee, with their horrible defense and home run friendly park. The home run is his achilles heel; hopefully Shea will knock a few more of those down.
Love to see him be the 5th starter for us… I just found some video of him striking out 8 against the Cardinals last year. Good stuff. Not very familar with the Brewers, don’t see them a lot, but an 11 win guy can’t be too bad. Hope we see him soon up here.
nice signing, esp to a minor league deal.
I think this a great signing. He might be able to work on some things with Petersen and regain some of his form from a couple years ago. While I don’t wholely believe he will, I can still hope. More to the point the Mets were in need of options for there rotation. Good signing!
Vargas generally pitches well against the NL East (though not against the Mets), and he has decent enough stats in away games.
I wonder what Tony Armas Jr. thinks of this move.
Competition is healthy!
Maybe he should’ve got to camp before March 15th.
Homeland security prevented that.
I don’i know that well how he pitches, but an 11 win season, aint that bad, a change of teams will probably do good. Maine:15 Oli:15 and Vargas:11- sounds pretty good
Am I the only skeptical one here who thinks, that is this guys had any real potential why was he released and had to wait till April 10th to be signed by anyone. Also he signed a minor-league deal. I view him in the Jason Vargas, Dave Williams, (but slightly above Jose Lima) ilk, meaning he is just an arm who can potentially start if more starters go down, and hope we drive in enough runs to win the game.
I was wondering the same thing, considering what the Brewers replaced him with. Maybe his arm is ailing and they helped him to go out and find a job with another team by keeping it under wraps?
Nothing against the skepticism. However, It’s worth noting that previous reports indicated Vargas and his agent were being picky about who they signed on with and it seems like they were lobbying hard for the mets from the get-go. He’s a former Omar guy in Montreal so maybe they wanted to reunite him here and were waiting out an opportunity where he would be needed.
Or maybe they’re just something seriously wrong with this guy though if he pitches to the stat-line he did last year, he is still a somewhat useful, albeit not great 5th starter for somebody.
He wanted assurances he would get an opportunity to be in the starting rotation. Once El Duque went down, that became something the Mets could offer.
Presumably he will take a physical.
No, you are not alone. It may be a fine signing, but as I read all these posters calling it a “great” signing, I’ve been scratching my head wondering what I missed.
JOHAN
PEDRO
OLIVER
JOHN
PELF
DUQUE
C.VARGAS
ARMAS
FIGEUROA
Good depth, when healthy. It’s a long season, hopefully some combination of these guys get us to the division title and beyond.
Does this mean we finally have a long relief guy? Or are we going to start him? We can’t keep using Sosa in long relief because we need him for tough spots.
Sosa=Mota
Wrong.
mex84=mota
Original
now, lets take all the junk we have and trade for one quality starter. Sosa, El Doque, Scott S, Jason V, e.t.c.
Oh yeah, I bet there are a lot of teams clamoring for that assortment!
Work that magic, Peterson.
Is this the guy from the Bizarro “Seinfeld”? Hello, Vargas!
If he’s the bizarro Jason Vargas, that’s good enough for me!
Plus I think it was Fargas…
Now I can sleep tonight knowing Vargas is a Met!
Savior!
(Sarcasm)
Just took a look and apparently Claudio Vargas has pitched 666.66 career innings.
This is terrible news…
Umm . . . you’d round up the 666.66 to 666.67, if I remember the rules of math correctly . . .
It’s not exactly blind conjecture to think that Shea Stadium can make decent pitchers out of alot of other team’s junk.
The Mets typically have success with guys like this, and by success I mean hold down the 5-spot and maybe be versatile enough for middle-relief down the road. Sure he was released, but his pedigree is not dissimliar to Jorge Sosa, who has worked out well.
And this is the team that traded for Guillermo Mota and gave Gagne the contract he earned in 2003.
I believe in the old adage (which i am not going to quote totally correct) but no one knows a better then the team he was one, for example the way the red sox let Damon walk. Again ,so if the Brewers just released him, leaves me to worry about this guy is made of. I am not saying he won’t pan out, I am just saying lets reserve judgement until we see what he does over a number of starts. Let us not forget Sosa winning his first 5/6 starts.
The Brewers apparently saved some $$$ by releasing Vargas when they did. I also don’t think that the Brewers have a history of managing their staffs real well.
if he has a ++ fastball and a decent curve why has he only struck out 107 in 134 innings? i could understand walks and a whip, but doesnt sound like he gets a lot of swings and misses for a guy who throws that hard… unless he has zero movement and its straight as an arrow.
107 Ks in 134 innings isn’t bad; it’s slightly better than league average, actually.
and his k to bb ratio is nearly 2 to 1
Now that I think of it while we are signing pitchers no else wanted, how about going after Jeff Weaver, oh and I hear the David Well’s agent said that Wells is interested in the Mets. We could also sign Freddy Garcia and make it a trifecta. All joking aside, my point is this just a signing about being able to plug a veteran arm into the rotation and hopefully eat up some innings. Let’s all contain our expectations and excitement until he pitches a few games and then evaluate.
It’s not like anyone’s expecting him to compete for a Cy Young, but pre-season there was a lot of concern about pitching depth, and he seems like a better “5+something”th pitcher than the vast majority of teams around the majors are able to boast. With Duque down, Vargas represents one less thing to worry about – and one more factor helping stave off Lima Time!
When you’ve been through the likes of Chan Ho Park, Jose Lima, and Brian Lawrence as fifth-starter plug-ins, Claudio Vargas starts to look like Sandy Koufax.
Well, last year’s pile-em-up-5th-starter options didn’t exactly work out. But I’m still willing to give this guy a fair shot….though my heart is rooting for Figgylicious.
Career 1.460 WHIP, 92 ERA+. Doesn’t inspire too much confidence. Better than the emergency fifth starter options of recent years. I hope Peterson can flip his magic switch on this guy and turn him into not just a viable fifth guy, but a solid rotation mainstay.
a 92 era+ for a 5th starter is pretty good, so it inspires a lot of confidence imo.
It’s 8 points below average. I know most fifth starters are below average, but I’d still like something more.
You guys do know that he’s going to New Orleans right? The Jacket cant just cross the street to see him pitch. He’s kind of busy with the big club, he’s not going to see him live. The best that can be done is he sees him on some video sent over the computer and make some recommendations to Warthen, the pitching coach at NO. Not the best thing if he needs that much work to improve any. He’s going to be pretty much on his own until he can make it to the Mets.
Didn’t the pitching coach at N’awlins fix Sosa last year? By “fix,” I mean turn him into a servicable #5, which he was for a while.
Probably but my remark was for those who were saying the jacket can work his magic on him. Peterson wont see him until he gets to Shea.
This guy was 9-2 4.30 era at one point last year. That was with the 2007 Brewers offense, a notch above the 2008 Mets version. It still points to a guy who can win, however that decline at the end of the year is not encouraging.
Im happy for the signing , but something tells me this guy has a serous arm issue..or something else, no way he sat around waiting to play for just the Mets in the minor leagues…anyway I hope it all works out ..but IM still pullin for Big Pelf to stay up with the club and finally succeed…and honestly I would love to see NIese get a start if Figgy cant get it done…..LETS GO METS!!
And the Phillies have just announced they have signed reliever Steve Kline… The reported it on the Philadelphia Comcast Sports Network …..
sweet, the magic man cometh
Only have 84 comments in the middle of the 7th inning. That means its a good night :)
The Mets must have sunk pretty far for anyone to get stoked about us signing a pitcher with a career 5.00 ERA.
I consider this another stop-gap typical Omar move.
Pile on the scrubs.
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