"You get rolling in a good direction..."

[Centerfield]

“It’s frustrating,” Vargas said of his season. “You get rolling in a good direction and then you have something like this happen, and the start of the season was obviously a disaster.”

A quote from this article: https://nypost.com/2018/06/20/jason-vargas-never-gave-the-mets-a-chance/

So that quote from Vargas could mean a few things. The Mets were rolling in a good direction, then Vargas happened, or Vargas had been rolling in a good direction, then last night happened. The second part of the quote, where he says the first part of the season was a disaster, suggests that it's the latter.

Vargas seems like a good guy, and I admire that he's made a career out of middling stuff. But if he is talking about his string of 5 inning starts as "rolling in a good direction", then I don't know what to say. His last three starts were all 5 innings, and the ER were 0, 2, and 3 respectively. If that's his upside, with his downside being blowups like last night, then this guy just is not a big league quality pitcher.

[Edgy MD]

I would have kept him out of Denver. He's EXACTLY the kind of low-velocity, breaking-pitch-dependent pitcher who gets creamed in high altitude. He has even in his better times and did yesternight.

[Ceetar]

well 5 innings zero runs is a nice upside.

That's who he is. Most of the starts are meh and you have a chance to win, with the occasional blow up where things just aren't working right. This year he probably came back too early and then had Coors happen, which isn't nothing.

I mean, he's mostly a meh pitcher. he's league average when things break well across a season and replacement level when they don't.

Edgy MD wrote: I would have kept him out of Denver. He's EXACTLY the kind of low-velocity, breaking-pitch-dependent pitcher who gets creamed in high altitude. He has even in his better times and did yesternight.

yeah, I think they should've avoided that.

[smg58]

He got hurt and was brought back too quickly, and now he's in the long, slow crawl back to normalcy that Matz and Wheeler are happily further along in. The catch is that he's 35 and doesn't have much of a ceiling at this point.

Barring an even bigger implosion from Lugo, which I really don't expect to happen, it's clear that Vargas needs to leave the rotation when Thor comes back. At this point, you have to hope he can work his way up to being an acceptable long reliever/spot starter in time for 2019. But I don't see getting any more than that from him.

[nymr83]

There is nothing at all wrong with a guy who pitched like Vargas has in the past being brought in as the planned 5th starter. And its too soon to give up on him with the track record. A track record of mediocrity is still something. The alternative is Matt Harvey, worst pitcher in the majors the past 2 years

[Vic Sage]

Centerfield wrote: ... His last three starts were all 5 innings, and the ER were 0, 2, and 3 respectively. If that's his upside, with his downside being blowups like last night, then this guy just is not a big league quality pitcher.

But that's consistent with his career performance. He's a mid-4 ERA pitcher with a 6ip/gs average. if he gives us 5ip/2.5runs per game, that's a 5th starter, and that's him. It's the games where he gets blown out that are the problem. That it happened in COL is not a shock. But after he started the season with 3 awful starts, 4 of his next 5 starts are pretty much what we should have expected: 5 ip / 0,0,2,3 runs scored. So i'd say he was, in fact, rolling in a good direction [for him] before last night. He should just never be asked to start at high altitude, cuz his shit don't play there.

I'm not arguing that he's a good pitcher, or that it was good we signed him. He's not and it wasn't. But if you cut him some slack for a slow start due to ST injury, then he's given us what we should have expected. I'd prefer more consistency [6ip/3r per game would be fine]. But even DeGrom isn't winning with this lineup, so i don't know that this season has been about Vargas' failures. Even with him in the rotation, we've got a good one. It's that the 2 big bats we brought in for big money have been injured and/or unproductive, and our young prospects haven't been exactly precocious in their development.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

what he said. what's discouraging in the end is how completely he lost it last night. we still had chances to win if he succked just a little less

[Guest 41Forever]

I think three homers in an inning got Steve Trachsel banished to Triple A to get his head on straight.

[Vic Sage]

Trachsel and Vargas have comparable careers.

[Bunt the First Two]

You get it rolling in a decent direction
Things come together and you make a connection
Three or four starts have put you in good position
You come Denver and it’s a full demolition

Your curves don’t bend and then your sliders don’t bite.
The hits start disappearing deep in the night
A week or two it seemed you had it together
You come to Denver and it’s hurricane weather

You come to Denver and hold on to your hat
Undressed like Charlie Brown by drives off the bat
You come to Denver and your career’s on the line
A dozen runs and soon you’ll drink turpentine

You get it rolling in a decent direction
You saw your flaws and then you made a correction
You come to Denver and the scoreboard’s on fire
You come to Denver and you want to retire

[Guest d'Kong76]

41Forever wrote: I think three homers in an inning got Steve Trachsel banished to Triple A to get his head on straight.

I don't remember this, but in my mind those three homers in an inning took
like 9-10 minutes. Last night it felt like don't blink or you'll miss it.

[Vic Sage]

yes, you got to give it up to Vargas. He does suck quick.

[Centerfield]

I like it when sucking lasts longer.

Wait, what are we talking about?

[Guest 41Forever]

d'Kong76 wrote: 41Forever wrote: I think three homers in an inning got Steve Trachsel banished to Triple A to get his head on straight. I don't remember this, but in my mind those three homers in an inning took like 9-10 minutes. Last night it felt like don't blink or you'll miss it.

I was off a little. He actually gave up four homers in an inning.

https://www.newsday.com/sports/trachsel-agrees-to-minor-league-demotion-1.260236

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Man the Mofo hated Trachsel. After that, and before he turned back into a tire fire, he was an awfully good contributor for the Mets

[Guest d'Kong76]

Almost a top-50 Met if you believe in the CPF Rankings Project. Almost.

[Edgy MD]

I remember him fondly as he appeared in the Crane Pool Parody Classic, starring in "Throw It Quickly," by (I think) centerfield, sung to the tune of "Kiss Me Deadly."