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Vargas on staff makes room for two back end starters.
Now, we've all heard favorable rumors of Walker/Campos/Paxton/Hultzen and the like, and I'm as ready as the next guy to be overjoyed at their success, but we've been disappointed in the past.
Remember this time last year.  The dynamic late inning men for the Tacoma Raineers killed the PCL and everyone was talking about them (Mr. Leuke especially) as if they were the next Craig Kimbrel (except back then was before Craig Kimbrel).
We got our wish, and these two made the Mariner's roster.  Our wish lasted approximately 1 month.  We  turned on Leuke and Cortes the moment they blew it in the A.L., and now we don't talk about them very much any more, even though they might have promising baseball careers.  Brandon Morrow was similarly hyped.  Then there was Travis Blackley, Clint Nageotte,  and other guys I can't remember.
The point is, that the Mariners lineup might really be something next year.  Carp looks good. Smoak looks good, Ackley looks good.  You can optimistically pencil in the 6-7-8-9 guys for 20 home runs each.  These aren't your Gutierrez-Kotchman-Lopez-Griffey Mariners.
Similarly, the Mariners bullpen looks good for next year.  Brandon League is getting new tattoos this off season, the DA is coming back, and we have a substitute teacher with a gyroball (its always good to perpetuate internet myths), and a bunch of other big guys with lightning arms.
The team isn't very far from success.  What will kill any of our pipe dreams is a rash of bad starts from rattled rookie starters.
I think that Vargas and Beaven have earned their jobs for next year.  The jury is still out on Furbush, and Vasquez has been declared guilty and needs to be remanded back into custody.
What's wrong with keeping the fifth spot open for the best of the fab four, sending the rest to Tacoma, and then switching things up if sustained success requires it?