Vargas is back

[Team Canada]

Link

Gord says he has a tentative 1 year deal in place to bring back Claudio Vargas..

[1Badgerfan]

Smart move. The more time fans spend at the stadium the more revenue the team brings in. Plus more "entertainment" time per dollar I spent on my tickets for next year. Seriously though he did well in the pen and perhaps is comfortable here so can't hurt assuming the dollars aren't too high.

[LouisEly]

With DiFelice out for the year it had to mean one or both of Vargas/McClung back. In 41+ total innings last year between the Dodgers and Brewers he had a 1.74 ERA and 0.98 WHIP. If he puts up numbers like that he can take as much time as he wants on the mound. Provided the amount is reasonable, no reason not to give him a chance to repeat those numbers on a one-year deal.

[Invader3K]

One less hole to fill. Good move by Doug and Co.

[thablingster]

Hooray, Human Rain Delay!

 

Vargas did a quality job in relief last year, and even over his career Vargas has seemingly been successful in relief. He has a knack for getting out of big jams, and not starting allows him to not be over-extended or have the opposing team see his stuff two or three times in any given game.

[RyDogg66]

This team has never had both Vargas and Doug Davis on the same team. If they both sign this offseason we might need to implement a 3 ball-2 strike rule.

[JohnBriggs12]

Vargas is tough with men on. He's well suited to be a late inning reliever. I like this move a lot. He was a great pickup last year.

[silversurferr]

I like it. Vargas pitched surprisingly well last year. Very consistent, too.

[sgtcluels]

To bad it's probably for 8m with a 2m option http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Ennder]

Vargas is the same pitcher he always was, he just got lucky with RISP last year stranding 90% of the runners on as opposed to a more normal 72% for his career. This was probably largely caused by his insanely low .203 BABIP last year.

 

xFIP pretty much tells the real story with him

 

4.62

4.64

4.85

4.54

4.50

 

I don't mind bringing him back but don't expect a sub 4 ERA even as a RP.

[JohnBriggs12]

His BABIP was low because he hit the right parts of the bats Ennder. It's called pitching.

[brewizard]

Seriously? We're happy Vargas is back?

 

Ouch!

 

Loooong season here we come.

[brewmann04]

He pitched very well last season and hopefully turned the corner, Nice signing Doug.

[yoshii8]

I'm hoping that he continues to pitch like he did last season, otherwise no big deal, he is at least league average. I'm sure it wasn't for a ton of money.

[Ennder]

His BABIP was low because he hit the right parts of the bats Ennder. It's called pitching.

Not sure if this is a joke or not but that just isn't how it works. Halladay had a .313 BABIP against last year, are you trying to say he doesn't know how to pitch?

[Invader3K]

Seriously? We're happy Vargas is back?

 

Ouch!

 

Loooong season here we come.

Already back with the negativity, eh? I guess it's easier than being optimistic.

 

Vargas is a serviceable arm that had success last season, as others indicated. It's not like they're counting on him to be the closer or something.

[Funketown]

His BABIP was low because he hit the right parts of the bats Ennder. It's called pitching.

His BABIP was .203 last year. If you look at the lowest career BABIP's for pitchers with more than 1,000 IP's, Babe Ruth holds the top spot with a .246 BABIP. It is phenomenally rare to find a pitcher who can actually sustain a BABIP below even .270 for an extended period of time. Fly ball pitchers have the tendency to convert more balls in play to outs, but sustaining anything below .270 for a significant sample size is extremely improbable, especially for a pitcher like Vargas.

[Tbadder]

Actually I'm happy with this if they use him correctly. If he's a 3/4 inning at a time guy then he can be helpful to a bullpen that is overworked. If he's brought in, in win/lose situations then I think there's trouble abrewin'. When I was a kid the long reliever role wasn't just a scrub. He was a guy who could bail out both sides of the staff (starters and relievers) by piling up some innings once a week. I don't know why more managers don't go back to that strategy more often.

[brewizard]

Already back with the negativity, eh? I guess it's easier than being optimistic.

 

I was optimistic in 2005 and 2006 when it wasn't particularly easy to optimistic. I was also optimistic in 2007, 2008 AND 2009. I was an optimist right up until about July 2009.

 

So I am no longer optimistic. It is true. I guess it sucks that I'm posting negativity. Sorry.

 

Perhaps I need to rethink my feelings for the team, if only for the sake of my fellow fans...

 

But I'm not optimistic anymore. You think this is easy?

 

Ugh.

[naivin]

As long as he isn't back as a middle of the rotation starter as he was the first time around, I have no problem with it. He's a middle inning bullpen guy, and can probably fill that role as well as anyone else they can reasonably get to do so.

[Invader3K]

brewizard that may all be true, but I still don't see what the point is in whining about the team bringing back a serviceable bullpen arm.

[Thurston Fluff]

Actually I'm happy with this if they use him correctly. If he's a 3/4 inning at a time guy then he can be helpful to a bullpen that is overworked. If he's brought in, in win/lose situations then I think there's trouble abrewin'. When I was a kid the long reliever role wasn't just a scrub. He was a guy who could bail out both sides of the staff (starters and relievers) by piling up some innings once a week. I don't know why more managers don't go back to that strategy more often.

 

This is one of the best observations I've seen in a while. Both in Vargas' best role on the team and how that role should be viewed. Just wanted to give props where props are due.

 

But I'm not optimistic anymore. You think this is easy?

 

Never quite being and optimist. We are right as often as pessimists and have a lot fewer ulcers. We also enjoy the game more because we see the good stuff going on over the bad.