Royals Rumors: Jason Vargas has received little buzz in free agency

Royals rumors have been very slow and there has been next to nothing about former Royals pitcher Jason Vargas. Will he sign a deal before spring training?

Kansas City Royals fans are shocked to see most of their team’s free agents still out there on the open market. One guy who has gotten no buzz whatsoever is Jason Vargas, who is coming off a great season. Well, at least the first half of the season was great.

Vargas went 18-11 on the year, but began the season at 12-3 with a 2.62 ERA. That impressive start landed Vargas in his first ever All-Star Game, where he pitched a scoreless inning for the American League.

After the All-Star break, however, Vargas came crashing down hard. He’d go 6-8 to close out the year and his 2017 ERA was at 4.16. While we all knew his first half stats wouldn’t stick throughout the year, it was disappointing to see him fall so fast.

The MLB free agent market is slow as is, but Vargas probably wasn’t going to get a legitimate deal that we’ve seen some other starting pitchers get over recent years. He just turned 35 years old earlier this month and not many teams are going to want to shell out more than a two-year contract to a 35 year old pitcher.

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While Royals fans probably feel like they could re-sign Vargas, the need isn’t there. They’ve been trading for arms this offseason (Trevor Oaks, Jesse Hahn, and Heath Fillmyer) and the rotation honestly is pretty set. Why give Vargas a bunch of money if he’s not needed?

Earlier in the offseason, it was reported that the Orioles might be interested in Vargas, but nothing else has come with that. It’s hard to imagine Vargas still being on the shelf this long in previous offseasons.

Sure, Vargas wouldn’t have gotten a mega deal, but teams would have definitely been competitive in signing him. The guy won 18 games last year and probably would have won more had the Royals offense not been so streaky.

At this point, Jason Vargas might have to end up settling on a one-year deal with a team and that seems unfair. Had it not been for the poor second half to the season though, Vargas would have easily gotten a second year and potentially even a third year with a team.

Is the slow market the reason for Jason Vargas getting no attention or is it due to his age and second half performance? Where do you think Jason Vargas will land and for how much?