He stopped playing when Plouffe came back from injury, and when he cooled off from his hot streak. At that point last season, could Vargas get the nod over Plouffe? Sure, the season was already over. He went back to AAA to get every day at-bats to continue his growth. When he came back up in September he played every day, and continued to struggle. I'm just not that bothered by not giving him every day at-bats over a 2 week period, and I don't think they did him wrong by sending him back down to AAA at that time.