FIRST SIGHT IS A FRIGHT!
Vargas’ debut dud bad sign for Met staff
SAN DIEGO — A month into the season, the Mets are still waiting for their rotation to settle in. Saturday was supposed to be the night that everything fell into place with lefty Jason Vargas finally coming off the disabled list and taking his spot as a veteran leader on this staff.
Instead, Vargas got shelled and run out of the game after just 3.2 innings in the Mets’ 12-2 loss to the Padres. He simply did not look ready after missing almost the first month of the season healing his right hand from surgery to remove a fractured hamate bone.
And that just adds to the uncertainty of the Mets rotation right now.
Jacob deGrom is coming off two straight scoreless starts. Noah Syndergaard gave the club his best start of the season last week before defense and the bullpen blew it. Those two will be the least of the Mets worries this year. But they are still not sure what they are going to get from the rest of the rotation.
Zack Wheeler, who was demoted in spring training but earned back his spot pitching well in Vargas’ place, struggled his last time out. The Mets are hopeful that it was most likely just the fact that he was on two days extra rest because of a rain out in Atlanta.
Steven Matz has been up and down not only from start to start, but from inning to inning.
Matt Harvey has been jettisoned to the bullpen in a dramatic week of upheaval. Mickey Callaway is still optimistic that the Mets’ rotation will be a strength of this team.
“I think that obviously, some of the guys could perform better. I think they would say that,” the manager said. “I think our goal is to not worry about what has happened and move forward and be the best we can be. There have been some good spots, some bad spots. I am very optimistic this rotation is going to be good in the long run.”
And Callaway is convinced that Vargas is going to be a big part of that. Obviously some of the lefty’s troubles Saturday could be chalked up to rust.
“He threw from behind a screen for a month and then got to face live hitters without a screen one time, but I know Vargas. He’s had those before. He’ll have them again,” Callaway said. “But he’s going to battle in the meantime.”
A middling pitcher for most of his career (an ERA of 4.17 in 12 seasons), Vargas is coming off a careerhigh 18 wins in 2017. They think they found a bargain in the 35-year-old, who had Tommy John surgery in 2015, signing him to a reasonable two-year, $16 million deal.
The Mets are banking on Vargas staying effective by working with Dave Eiland, the pitching coach who helped him have a breakout year in 2017 in Kansas City, and being a wrench in their rotation of power arms.
Both Eiland and Mets manager Mickey Callaway recommended signing Vargas; ironically, he was seen as insurance for a rotation that had been devastated by injuries in the past. And he was seen as a stabilizing veteran presence in the rotation.
That was not the case Saturday. After allowing nine earned runs on nine hits in just 3.2 innings, though, Vargas was not using a lack of starts as an excuse.
“I don’t know if that had as much to do with it as I just wasn’t good tonight,” Vargas said. “I made some mistakes early, I got behind and I got them into some situations where they felt comfortable swinging the bat. They got rolling from there. I wasn’t able to put some T guys away with two strikes or two outs.” he truth is, however, Vargas hasn’t pitched much this year. There was some rust.
The lefty fractured his hamate bone taking a come-backer off his glove in a minor league spring training game. He pitched just one minorleague rehab game before he was activated.
Maybe Saturday night was just what Vargas needed to get back into regular-season form and he will be exactly as the Mets have advertised the rest of the way. But, at least in his debut, Vargas did not answer any questions about the Mets rotation. He only added to them.