For a second straight day, Mets closer Jeurys Familia was excused from the team’s morning workouts at Tradition Field and left camp early on Saturday due to a personal matter and he is not expected to return until Monday.
A report by Mike Puma of the New York Post says that the absence is related to his case with MLB which continues to investigate his arrest on domestic violence charges last Oct. 31 at his New Jersey home.
Commissioner Rob Manfred said earlier this month that he will have a determination on Familia’s case by the end of spring training.
Familia is expected to be suspended at least 30 games to start the season, despite having all charges against him dropped last month. He has been advised by his lawyer and the team not to discuss his case with anyone.
Manager Terry Collins is preparing to go into the season with the mindset that Addison Reed will be his closer and fully expects to be without Familia.
“I think you’ve got to be smart enough to realize there probably is going to be some type of penalty,” Collins said earlier in the week. “I don’t know what it is. I have no idea yet.”
“So I think you’ve got to go into this right now making sure that Addison Reed is ready to pitch the ninth inning starting the season. Familia, we know he’ll be back sometime. But we’ve got to get our bullpen in shape in case he’s going to be gone for a period of time.”
Familia, 27, is coming off a huge season posting a 2.55 ERA and 1.21 WHIP 77.2 innings last season with 84 strikeouts. He became the first Met reliever to lead the majors in saves with 51, and the 13th pitcher in MLB history to reach the 50-save plateau.
Reed, 28, was actually even more impressive than Familia last season in almost every statistical measure including a 1.97 ERA, 0.940 WHIP, 10.5 K/9 and 7.0 K/BB.
A month ago I was a bit concerned about how Familia’s suspension would impact the team, especially given how rarely our young starters can pitch very deeply into games.
However whatever concerns I had were quickly diminished once the Mets re-signed Fernando Salas and Jerry Blevins. The Mets should be able to ride this coming storm out no matter how long the suspension is. At least that’s the way I see it.
(Photo: USA Today Sports Images)
