Royals lose Jason Vargas for season with elbow injury; Yordano Ventura returns

Marc Lancaster

Royals lose Jason Vargas for season with elbow injury; Yordano Ventura returns image

Jason Vargas is on the disabled list for the third time in 2015, but he won't make a quick return from his latest stint. 

The Royals left-hander has a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow, the team announced Wednesday. That generally means Tommy John surgery, and given the timing he figures to be sidelined for at least a portion of the 2016 season, too.

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Vargas was activated from the DL for a Tuesday start against the Pirates but left in the second inning after throwing only 26 pitches.

“It was discomfort that caused me to feel like I definitely wasn’t going to be able to make any more pitches and be competitive,” Vargas told reporters afterward, via the Kansas City Star.

The 32-year-old was 5-2 with a 3.98 ERA in nine starts this season for the defending American League champions, whose pitching is robust enough that they demoted opening-day starter Yordano Ventura on Tuesday to make room for Vargas. But Ventura headed right back to Kansas City on Wednesday and will need to sort out his issues at the big-league level.

Given Ventura's issues and the loss of Vargas, rumors of the Royals adding a top-level starting pitcher will only intensify ahead of next week's non-waiver trade deadline. They have been mentioned prominently as a potential suitor for Johnny Cueto, and now adding a pitcher like that would be more than just a luxury item for manager Ned Yost.

Marc Lancaster

Marc Lancaster Photo

Marc Lancaster joined The Sporting News in 2022 after working closely with TSN for five years as an editor for the company now known as Stats Perform. He previously worked as an editor at The Washington Times, AOL’s FanHouse.com and the old CNNSportsIllustrated.com, and as a beat writer covering the Tampa Bay Rays, Cincinnati Reds, and University of Georgia football and women’s basketball. A Georgia graduate, he has been a Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2013.