LHP Jason Vargas is on waivers

Well, this is interesting...the Anaheim Angels, whose season is pretty well over (especially now that Albert Pujols is done for the year), have just put shortstop Erick Aybar and lefthanded pitcher Jason Vargas on revocable waivers.

While Aybar isn't really relevant to the Rangers, Vargas potentially is.  Vargas, acquired by the Angels from the Seattle Mariners for Kendrys Morales in the offseason, is a middle-of-the-road innings-eating starting pitcher who has put up a 96 ERA+ for the M's and Angels since becoming a permanent starter in 2010.

Vargas isn't anything special, but he's owed only $2M or so over the remainder of the season.  Given the problems Alexi Ogando has had staying healthy, and the fact that Martin Perez is currently manning the #4 spot in the rotation, it would seem to make sense that the Rangers would put in a waiver claim on Vargas, and see if they could snag him to make a half-dozen starts over the rest of the season.

I can't imagine that the Rangers would be interested in giving up anything of real value for Vargas, which would mean that the Angels would have to decide if they were willing to give him up to a division rival for a fringe prospect and $2M in savings.

The other problem for Texas is that Vargas would have to slide all the way to Texas on waivers.  Baltimore is a team on the fringe of the race, with waiver priority over Texas, who I could see grabbing Vargas, given the problems with their pitching staff.  So whether Texas wants Vargas or not may be moot.

In any case, its worth noting and keeping an eye on.  We'll know tomorrow if Vargas was claimed or if he cleared.