Jason Vargas will continue to be the Mets’ fifth starter.
The 36-year-old left-hander has struggled this season and New York has reportedly been in contact with free agent Dallas Keuchel. But, general manager Brodie Van Wagenen told reporters Vargas will remain in the team’s rotation.
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“I don’t think we operate in a world of temptation,” Van Wagenen said, via MLB.com. “We want to try to go build the best team that we can. We like the guys that we have here. As people are fairly aware of, we’ll always monitor opportunities to get better, but we like the guys that we have. Including Jason Vargas.”
Vargas surrendered four runs and three walks while recording just one out in his start Saturday against the Braves. The Mets fell in that game, 11-7.
“We have confidence in him,” Van Wagenen said. “We have confidence in this team. We’re not going to be making drastic changes to our club after one bad inning of a start where he had a schedule that was derailed from the start of the season.”
The @Braves get to Jason Vargas early. pic.twitter.com/dDjrNkrmNX
— Sporting News MLB (@sn_mlb) April 14, 2019
In total, Vargas holds a 14.21 ERA in three appearances so far in 2019. He has walked four and allowed 14 hits in 6 1/3 innings pitched.
New York manager Mickey Callaway said the team “has faith” in Vargas.
“We need to give Vargas every opportunity to go out there and succeed at this point,” Callaway said. “He’s done it in the past. He’s struggled and then figured it out.
“We’ve got to get Vargas on a roll to be the best team (we can be). We’ve talked about this in the past, Vargas needs to pitch well. And we’re going to try to get him every opportunity to do that."
Vargas signed a two-year, $16 million deal with the Mets in February 2018. He tallied a 7-9 record with a 5.77 ERA in his first season with the team.