Carlos Vargas has answered the bell

His roster inclusion surprised some, but he's looked solid. Let's take a look.

The Seattle Mariners acquired right-hander Carlos Vargas as part of the trade that sent 3B Eugenio Suarez to the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was a financial move in an attempt to reallocate money. The Mariners also acquired catcher Seby Zavala in the deal.

At the time, Vargas had thrown 4.2 innings in the big leagues and hit triple digits with his fastball. He spent all of 2024 in Triple-A Tacoma, however, with mixed results.

Neither player helped the Mariners in 2024.

Vargas struggled to miss bats consistently (17% K, 10.4% whiff) in Tacoma, at least partially due to the lack of a consistent swing-and-miss pitch. Instead, he relied on weak contact in the form of ground balls (55%), but allowed too much hard contact to see a chance at consistency in the majors, and the idea of a high-leverage option anytime soon was, then at least, far-fetched.

Is it far-fetched now?