Mets sign Claudio Vargas

Originally posted by Mark Leff on Apr 10th, 2008 at 3:21 PM.

With the recent injury of Pedro Martinez, the Mets have been looking for help, and have signed Claudio Vargas. The journeyman righty had a strong spring (3-0, 2.40 ERA in 15 innings with Milwaukee), but will start off with the Mets in extended spring training before going to Triple-A New Orleans. When ready, he’ll more than likely replace Nelson Figueroa in the Mets rotation.

At his best, Vargas can impress, but is primarily mediocre, with a career ERA+ of 92. Vargas’s nickname, “magic man,” is based on his ability to get out of innings with runners on base. While his ERA is usually slightly above the league average, his WHIP is substantially high. He pitched to a 1.54 WHIP in 2007 and a 1.46 for his career.

In spite of his poor ratio stats, Vargas can be a good source of strikeouts. He’s broken 100 in each of the last two years. Furthermore, he’s struggled with home runs in his career, but primarily in home run hitter’s parks (Chase Field had 2006’s highest home run park factor, for instance), making Shea a good fit for him.

Vargas could be useful for a few spot starts depending on his opponent. (He has substantially better stats against righties than lefties.)