New York Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen spoke out in support of the team’s beleaguered left-hander, Jason Vargas, on Sunday evening in Atlanta.
Besides his unsightly 14.21 earned-run average, 8.20 fielding independent pitching rating, and 4.26 strikeouts and 5.68 walks per nine, respectively, over his first two appearances (just 6.1 innings total), Vargas’ 70.8% hard-hit rate is the highest in the majors via a starting pitcher — and by a healthy margin (Jose Urena, 65.5%). He’s simply getting beat up out there.
On Sunday, before the Mets took on the Braves in the finale of their four-game series, Van Wagenen gave Vargas a vote of confidence (quote via Matt Ehalt of Yahoo Sports).
“[Vargas] is our fifth starter. We have confidence in him, confidence in this team, and [we’re] not going to make drastic changes after one bad inning of a start where he had a schedule that was derailed.”
After making his season debut on April 2 versus the Marlins (five innings, two runs on eight hits), the 36-year-old pitched an inning of relief in a loss to the Twins on April 9 (four runs on four hits) then couldn’t make it out of the first inning (four runs, four hits, three walks) in Saturday night’s loss to the Braves.
Mets pitching coach Dave Eiland spoke about Vargas’ unconventional schedule, as well, also via Ehalt.
“Nobody, Jason Vargas, Jacob deGrom Noah Syndergaard, nobody can start every 11th day. It’s tough,” Eiland said. “Vargas proves when he pitches on regular rest, takes his regular turn [as] he did in the second half last year, he’s pretty good.”
When asked about the more-than-viable left-handed starting pitching option still on the open market, Dallas Keuchel, Van Wagenen again offered confidence in the roster he constructed, while still allowing himself some wiggle room to keep his eyes open for an upgrade.
“I don’t think we operate in the world of temptation. We like the guys we have here,” Van Wagenen said, as per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. “We’ll always monitor ways to get better, but we like the guys we have, including Jason Vargas.”
It was announced earlier on Sunday that the veteran southpaw’s next start would be pushed back to next Saturday in St. Louis. We’ll keep you posted as any new information becomes available.
