Jason Vargas has a 10.62 ERA in 20.1 IP for the Mets this season. Since the franchise began in 1962, there have been 815 pitching seasons where a hurler has amassed at least 20 IP. Vargas has the highest ERA out of those 815 pitchers. Old timers may have lamented Sherman Jones, who put up a 7.71 ERA in 1962. You might have thought that it wasn’t going to get any worse than Tommy Milone last year with his 8.56 ERA. But Vargas has been a special kind of ugly.
The only other hurler with a double digit ERA in Mets history was Jason Jacome in 1995, when in 21 innings he posted a 10.29 ERA. Remarkably, Jacome had trade value, as he was sent to the Royals in a five-player deal during the ’95 season.
Maybe we should get Kansas City on the line and see if they’d like to acquire another lefty Jason with a high ERA.
What really hurts is the $ 16 million donation to the Jason Vargas fund.
It’s early.dont panic. Ces and Frazier will be back soon. Maybe Lugo replaces Vargas n the rotation and Vargas becomes a good BP guy. And who knows maybe Alonso comes up July 4 and plays like Conforto did when he was called up. From double a.
I went back and did the math for Vargas’ numbers since July of last year. I did it manually on the back of an envelope so if I am correct: 7.51 ERA; 435 batters faced where he gave up 129 hits and 44 walks resulting in a 40% success rate in reaching base; opposing batter average of about .325. And it wasn’t that his defense let him down because every run he gave up was earned. Nice. And Lugo has to sit behind this?
Instead of spending money on 4 older
B FAs who’ve all been injured and/or ineffective, we’ve could have spent less money on one A free agent like Jake Arrieta and waited out the market for cheaper options at other spots that have been just as good or better like Tony Watson, Jon Jay et al. This is the difference between the Mets and Yankees. Bartolo Colon has been far more effective than Vargas. We needed a veteran starting pitcher and we signed the 5th best one available coming off a terrible second half of 2017.
Mets’ starters FIPs so far:
deGrom 1.89
Thor 2.55
Wheeler 4.01
Matz 5.64
Vargas 6.50
I was surprised that Matz’s FIP was so high, but then again, his walks are up and he’s given up a lot of homers.
The only “Go-Forward” part of this team was to be the Starting Pitching…retaining them and paying them was to be paired with young Positional talent and short term patches and opportunities.
Between now and the end of June, they must determine that they have 3-4 useable pieces on that Starting Staff, and whether they can make it to the 2018 playoffs.
If those answers are “No”, then they must do a complete rebuild. That starts with deGrom in a package at least equal to the Verlander trade— Houston’s # 3, 9, and 11 prospects. It would and should also include Frazier and Cabrera and Familia for additional talent.
This will be the largest baseball task and test of this regime. If they lay off this sort of decision, or mismeasure, they will find themselves in a 5 year abyss.
Eraff, I disagree with a complete rebuild and who is to say these prospects will work out? I believe if they can identify their core, identify their role players, and (here is where Alderson will fail miserably) identify their mistakes, they can reformulate a competitive team.
Auction off anything not coming back next year, or not worth keeping: Familia, Ramos, possibly Bruce (Nimmo has passed him), Gonzalez, maybe Mesoraco (if the deal is worth it) and Cabrera. Let Smith/Flores and Guillorme play everyday and let your youngsters grow already!!!
This way, you have a pitching rotation to start with, a competent outfield, a decent young shortstop that whatever you get back won’t be better than and a role playing third baseman that must be batting sixth or seventh for your team to be good enough. Maybe you’ll need a second baseman, a first baseman, and possibly catcher, but there will be options available. That isn’t that much and certainly not worth tearing it all down for.
Gus…”….Tearing it all down…”. It’s a Tear down, not a rehab