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Ordinarily, I would not bother writing a post about this one random Twitter rumor - no matter how reputable the source - but there's no Orioles baseball tonight, there's been no Orioles baseball for the past three nights, and I'm dying over here, man. Maybe you are too. So let's take a look at the latest from ESPN's Jayson Stark:
Clubs that have spoken with the #Orioles say they've shifted away from Matt Garza. Now poking around on Jason Vargas.
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) July 12, 2012
There are two things going on here. First, Matt Garza. His name has also been on the wall of pitchers names where reporters are throwing darts and writing articles about teams being interested in. We remember Garza from his time with Tampa Bay, where he threw nearly 600 innings over three seasons and had a 3.86 ERA - no better than 3.70 but no worse than 3.91 in a single season. That isn't terrible. He will be a free agent after the 2013 season, but it seems we can move on from thinking about him for now.
Then, there is Jason Vargas. Is he the new target? Someone wearing a blindfold pinned a tail on him, anyway. There is the very real likelihood that Vargas represents the ass of the starting pitching trade market, so bravo to that blindfolded game-player. The reason for this is simple: look at his home/road splits. Vargas pitches his home games in Seattle's Safeco Field, in which has been hit like the fewest extra base hits all season. He has a 5.09 ERA in road games and has surrendered 17 home runs in 69 road innings. True, his 1.15 WHIP is not bad, and better than any O's starter, in fact.
One might recoil in horror from imagining him pitching in Camden Yards against American League East lineups that don't belong to the Orioles, though.
For everyone out there who dreams of the Baltimore Orioles acquiring Zach Greinke, remember that the O's are much more likely to acquire a Jason Vargas. We do not want a Jason Vargas, although we may get one anyway. We probably will not get Vargas, so there is no need to panic and in either case there is no need to get excited.