Brewers release Vargas; Capuano gets second opinion
The Milwaukee Brewers today announced that they released starting pitcher Claudio Vargas, who was an 11-game winner last season for the team.
The somewhat surprising move clears the way for Manny Parra, Dave Bush and Carlos Villanueva to start the season in the bottom three spots in the rotation behind Ben Sheets and Jeff Suppan. Yovani Gallardo, who is rehabilitating from arthroscopic knee surgery, will replace one member of that trio when he returns from the disabled list.
The 29-year-old Vargas, who is 48-38 for his career, got off to a solid start last season but eventually was pulled from the rotation in the second half of the season because of his inability to pitch deep into games.
Vargas pitched only 134 1/3 innings last year in 29 appearances, including 23 starts. He finished 11-6 with a 5.09 earned-run average, striking out 107 while walking just 54, but allowed 23 home runs.
This spring, Vargas was 3-1 with a 3.86 ERA.
The news comes just days after another starter from last year, Chris Capuano, was lost for the season with a left elbow injury that will require reconstructive surgery.
The Brewers announced Tuesday that Capuano will visit renowned surgeon Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala., on Wednesday to get a second opinion on his elbow.
Capuano was diagnosed with a tear of the ulnar collateral ligament. Andrews performed "Tommy John" surgery on Capuano on May 17, 2002.
