Mets make proactive move regarding Familia's winter ball participation
Mets’ closer may still face suspension from MLB despite case being dropped.
Jeurys Familia and Asdrubal Cabrera were given clearance by the New York Mets to play winter ball. This brings up an interesting scenario with the former as Familia’s simple assault charge was dropped, but there could still be a suspension pending.
Familia plans to play this winter in Dominican Republic before the World Baseball Classic kicks off next March. The Mets closer set a new mark in saves (51) and was selected to his first All-Star game. However, that has been replaced by a lot of negative headlines involving Familia whose 2017 is still up in the air.
Perhaps, the Mets feel it’s better for Familia to stay as loose as possible in case a suspension does come down from Major League Baseball. The Mets have been actively pursuing bullpen help this off-season to no avail and this may be resorting to a fallback option. At this point it doesn’t look like that help is coming from elsewhere.
From the pure business side, I could understand Sandy Alderson’s original position of being hesitant to let both Familia and Cabrera play due to injury risk. This may be the most prudent course of action for Familia though as a just-in-case scenario. MLB will conduct their own independent investigation to determine if a suspension is warranted.
The Mets’ bullpen held together okay last season but there were some definite holes to plug in the off-season. Instead of filling those gaps, the Mets shipped off Logan Verrett and are not poised to retain Jerry Blevins. That leaves the bridge in potentially lesser shape heading into 2017.
With that said, the Mets are hoping to have Familia as fresh as possible for whenever his 2017 debut will commence. Of course we won’t know that in the very near future so this becomes a proactive move.
More from Rising Apple
This article originally appeared on 
