Anyone know if Jason Vargas is a good pitcher?

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

I don't follow any team or players outside of the Royals or former Royals.  So I really know nothing about this guy.   Sabermetrics genius Rany Jazerli says that he is a league average pitcher.  He also said he's pitched in pitchers parks so that his numbers should go down playing in Kansas City (which is a big ball park, so not a lot of homeruns but hitters hit for high average).   Kansas City signed him for 4 years so he is going to be around for quite some time.

Anybody have an opinion on this guy?   Any chance he could outperform his contract like Ervin Santana did?   

[MistaNova]

Throughout his career Vargas has been an okay pitcher. He's not an ace but he's a decent number 2 pitcher and a good number 3. I'm guessing he'll be behind Shields in the Royals's starting rotation.

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

Throughout his career Vargas has been an okay pitcher. He's not an ace but he's a decent number 2 pitcher and a good number 3. I'm guessing he'll be behind Shields in the Royals's starting rotation.

That's good to hear.  That would be great if he could be a solid #2.  It looks like the Royals will lose Santana so either one of our young guys like Duffy or Yardano Ventura is gonna have to step it up or Vargas is gonna have to give us what Santana gave us last year.   Our GM also thinks that he can be a mentor to Duffy since Duffy is a young left-hander. 

Losing organizations like the Royals take the "nice guy" approach and talk about mentors and "leaders in the locker room" and "character guys".   GM's for winning teams probably don't even talk about that, lol.  Like Jeff Francour was supposedly a great "locker room guy".  LOL

[Halu Sination]

He's a good pitcher but definitely not even close to the money Royals forked out for him. That would be funny if Angels got Ervin Santana back while letting Vargas go.

Throughout his career Vargas has been an okay pitcher. He's not an ace but he's a decent number 2 pitcher and a good number 3. I'm guessing he'll be behind Shields in the Royals's starting rotation.

Slight disagreement here, I would say he's more of an "adequate number 3" as opposed to a good one lol. He was Angels' 3 (might've actually been lower than that) and Angels are up there with Yankees as having the worst pitching staffs out of all the big market teams.

[MistaNova]

That's good to hear.  That would be great if he could be a solid #2.  It looks like the Royals will lose Santana so either one of our young guys like Duffy or Yardano Ventura is gonna have to step it up or Vargas is gonna have to give us what Santana gave us last year.   Our GM also thinks that he can be a mentor to Duffy since Duffy is a young left-hander. 

Losing organizations like the Royals take the "nice guy" approach and talk about mentors and "leaders in the locker room" and "character guys".   GM's for winning teams probably don't even talk about that, lol.  Like Jeff Francour was supposedly a great "locker room guy".  LOL

I wonder why the Royals don't take the Rays's approach and sign productive players who are horrible humans. Like the Rays give jobs to really horrible human beings like Delmon Young (DUIs, domestic violence charges, various other felonies) and Josh Lueke (rapist) since they're effective in the roles they're given (usually) and the Rays can get a discount for their services since their reputations scare other teams away.

Anyway back to Vargas though. I personally think the Royals kind of overpaid by giving him 4 years (3 would've been better, just saying) but he should good for the Royals while he's with the team. I would keep an eye on his health during Spring Training though as his 2013 season was kind of derailed by a blood clot in his armpit.

[MistaNova]

He's a good pitcher but definitely not even close to the money Royals forked out for him. That would be funny if Angels got Ervin Santana back while letting Vargas go.

Slight disagreement here, I would say he's more of an "adequate number 3" as opposed to a good one lol. He was Angels' 3 (might've actually been lower than that) and Angels are up there with Yankees as having the worst pitching staffs out of all the big market teams.

Lol.

And yeah you're probably right about him being an adequate number 3 (truth be told I don't remember anything he, or anyone besides Trout, did in Anaheim lol). Although he has been thrust into the number 2 slot before in Seattle so maybe Remedy can also give us his take on Vargas.

[Remedy360]

He played on my Mariners for several years and I always liked him. He did struggle a lot more outside of Safeco (which is a big-time pitchers park) but he's at least a solid pitcher.

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

I wonder why the Royals don't take the Rays's approach and sign productive players who are horrible humans. Like the Rays give jobs to really horrible human beings like Delmon Young (DUIs, domestic violence charges, various other felonies) and Josh Lueke (rapist) since they're effective in the roles they're given (usually) and the Rays can get a discount for their services since their reputations scare other teams away.

The Royals GM Dayton Moore is actually a very devout Christian.  Some even argued that his reason for hiring past manager Trey Hillman was because Hillman was also a very devout Christian.  Then our manager now was hired because he's an Atlanta guy and GM Dayton Moore is loyal to all the guys who worked in the Braves organization.  This can be both good and bad.  It is good because GM Dayton Moore is a nice, decent man with morals, and a loyal guy, who is good to those who work within the organization.  Who would not want a boss like that?   It's bad because obviously it ultimately comes down to winning and losing, and the Rays have won a lot of games with those assholes.

Anyway back to Vargas though. I personally think the Royals kind of overpaid by giving him 4 years (3 would've been better, just saying) but he should good for the Royals while he's with the team. I would keep an eye on his health during Spring Training though as his 2013 season was kind of derailed by a blood clot in his armpit.

Interesting.   You can't blame the Royals for overpaying though, we aren't exactly the most attractive market and team to play for.  We generally always have to overpay for the top free agents.  We overpaid for Gill Mesh several years back.  We overpaid for Jose Guillen.  We overpaid for Santana at the time but he ended up having the best season of his career.   So now we are overpaying for Vargas, and we are hoping that if he's a homerun pitcher like Santana, our big ballpark and our great defense can allow him an opportunity for a good year.

The injury you mentioned does scare me.  Also the 4th year scares me as well, like you said.  Sabermetrics genius Rany Jazerli argued that he is essentially Bruce Chen.  That the Royals could of just resigned Bruce Chen for 2 years at a cheaper price.    Chen may be older, but crafty lefties can often pitch even into their 40's, just look at Jamie Moyer.  Jamie Moyer won a game at age 49!

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

He played on my Mariners for several years and I always liked him. He did struggle a lot more outside of Safeco (which is a big-time pitchers park) but he's at least a solid pitcher.

That's good news.    I know he's been around a bit so you've gotten a good look at him being a Mariners fan.   You want somebody who you know you have a chance to win every time they take the mound.  Sounds like he is that kind of a pitcher.

[Halu Sination]

That's good to hear.  That would be great if he could be a solid #2.  It looks like the Royals will lose Santana so either one of our young guys like Duffy or Yardano Ventura is gonna have to step it up or Vargas is gonna have to give us what Santana gave us last year.   Our GM also thinks that he can be a mentor to Duffy since Duffy is a young left-hander. 

Losing organizations like the Royals take the "nice guy" approach and talk about mentors and "leaders in the locker room" and "character guys".   GM's for winning teams probably don't even talk about that, lol.  Like Jeff Francour was supposedly a great "locker room guy".  LOL

I wonder why the Royals don't take the Rays's approach and sign productive players who are horrible humans. Like the Rays give jobs to really horrible human beings like Delmon Young (DUIs, domestic violence charges, various other felonies) and Josh Lueke (rapist) since they're effective in the roles they're given (usually) and the Rays can get a discount for their services since their reputations scare other teams away.

Lmao, somebody should make a "Moneyball 2" with Rays carefully spending their money to get discounts on asshole players that nobody wants.

[MistaNova]

I wonder why the Royals don't take the Rays's approach and sign productive players who are horrible humans. Like the Rays give jobs to really horrible human beings like Delmon Young (DUIs, domestic violence charges, various other felonies) and Josh Lueke (rapist) since they're effective in the roles they're given (usually) and the Rays can get a discount for their services since their reputations scare other teams away.

Lmao, somebody should make a "Moneyball 2" with Rays carefully spending their money to get discounts on asshole players that nobody wants.

Lol, that'd be something. If the Rays somehow acquired A-Rod and Ryan Braun for cheap it could definitely happen .

[Remedy360]

That's good to hear.  That would be great if he could be a solid #2.  It looks like the Royals will lose Santana so either one of our young guys like Duffy or Yardano Ventura is gonna have to step it up or Vargas is gonna have to give us what Santana gave us last year.   Our GM also thinks that he can be a mentor to Duffy since Duffy is a young left-hander. 

Losing organizations like the Royals take the "nice guy" approach and talk about mentors and "leaders in the locker room" and "character guys".   GM's for winning teams probably don't even talk about that, lol.  Like Jeff Francour was supposedly a great "locker room guy".  LOL

I wonder why the Royals don't take the Rays's approach and sign productive players who are horrible humans. Like the Rays give jobs to really horrible human beings like Delmon Young (DUIs, domestic violence charges, various other felonies) and Josh Lueke (rapist) since they're effective in the roles they're given (usually) and the Rays can get a discount for their services since their reputations scare other teams away.

Anyway back to Vargas though. I personally think the Royals kind of overpaid by giving him 4 years (3 would've been better, just saying) but he should good for the Royals while he's with the team. I would keep an eye on his health during Spring Training though as his 2013 season was kind of derailed by a blood clot in his armpit.

Lol Josh Lueke is an absolute nobody. I know you like to hate but lets not act like he's some intricate part of their team.

[MistaNova]

Lol Josh Lueke is an absolute nobody. I know you like to hate but lets not act like he's some intricate part of their team.

I'm aware that he's not exactly the team MVP or anything but there is something to how he's been able to keep his job for so long.

[Remedy360]

Lol Josh Lueke is an absolute nobody. I know you like to hate but lets not act like he's some intricate part of their team.

I'm aware that he's not exactly the team MVP or anything but there is something to how he's been able to keep his job for so long.

Yeah, well sadly enough big businesses don't care about your off-field conduct as long as it's not hurting them in the PR department. Lueke is a talented kid "stuff-wise" so he's gonna keep getting opportunities.