May 12 2019 02:26 PM
Hello, I'm Jason Vargas. And in the long tradition of Mets dating back to Rod Gaspar and plowing on through to a little somebody name ... Jeff McNeil ... I'm a Long Beach State Dirtbag.
I was developed and picked by the Marlins. But the Mets coveted me and Omar Minaya — who usually preferred a hot, young, live arm to a guy who has demonstrated a successful approach — went against his own values and traded hot young arms Matt Lindstrom and Henry Owens for me and a guy named Adam Bostick, who, um, wasn't particularly good.
So the Mets send off two arms for two pitchers. Omar totally went against his own instincts, and it worked! Lindstrom had a decent career as an itinerant reliever, and Owens blew out his shoulder. I'm not great, but I did a lot better than either of those guys!
But Minaya was Minaya, so I only got two starts with the Mets before they unloaded me in the massive — and massively incoherent — J.J. Putz trade. Omar didn't know what he had, and so he won that first trade, but it only became clear after he got an enormous swirly on the second.
So, 15.7 WAR later, I came back to the Mets, and 10 minutes later, so did Omar Minaya. Weird, right?
And like my first tenure with the Mets, I stunk. I stunk like a messy diaper left out the sun on the top of a waste receptacle. And put a rotten fermented banana on top of that. Throw some used coffee grounds in there too.
But back for more I have come. And though I've mostly pitched better of late — and since I don't know how to tell you this, but here goes — I have a higher overall ERA than last year.
I'm on the DL ... again. When I come back, there is reason to hopeful, but there is also reason to be scared. And there is totally a good reason to be psyched if your name is Drew Gagnon.
So, this is going to play out any number of ways going forward. Perhaps you know. If you do, could you please step forward, state your name and your affiliation, and tell us what you see.