Trade season continues.
The Mets have dealt Jason Vargas to the Philadelphia Phillies, a day after acquiring Marcus Stroman from the Toronto Blue Jays.
The return for Vargas appears to be very minimal. The Phillies have sent Double-A catcher Austin Bossart to the Mets. Bossart is praised for his defensive prowess, but is hitting just .195 this year at Double – A.
Vargas was signed last offseason to a two year deal with a team option. His first year with the Mets was a disaster. He was much improved in 2019, pitching to a 4.01 ERA and providing some much needed stability to the back of the rotation.
His solid 2019 led to some speculation that the Mets would exercise the team option and keep Vargas in Queens another season.
As the Mets have absolutely no internal starting pitching depth, a Zack Wheeler deal would put the Mets in Oswalt-Flexen territory. Chances of competing in 2019 are very slim, but that would officially be waving the white flag on the season.
This was a 2017esque salary dump. We just received a 26 year old catcher instead of a 26 year old reliever.