The Crane Pool Forum

For all the embarrassing and unprofessional and downright toxic coddling of closers' egos, I may be one of the better object lessons in support of it.

I'm Jeurys Familia, and I was a supporting player in the Mets' bullpen and I pitched to suit. Folks liked my stuff, but I wasn't blowing minds any more than, say, Carlos Torres or Vic Fuckin' Black. Buddy Carlyle and Dana Eveland were getting it done back then too.

But then Jenrry Mejia got stupid and I stepped into the closer's role, and holy shit, was I the man. For two years there, my slider had enough bite to make lefties corkscrew upon themeselves, my four-seamer had tail, and my splitter was a like a fastball with a changeup drop. I was poison. I was totally the man.

But the Mets lacked other men, and so they traded me to another team in the midst of a pennant race, and since then, I'm just another reliever. I sometimes get it done, sometimes don't, and if I'm not hitting my spots, I'm not succeeding, because my shit is isn't as baffling anymore. I've been fluctuating in weight classes, I make sad faces, and I wonder what my future is.

But somewhere in there, I'm still that guy. If you would perhaps coddle me again, you may find out. For now, I need to find out. My past is but prologue. What does my future hold?

The error bars are big with him. The tank could be empty, or he could be at a Shell station right now. But I'll go for a dull medium with 3-4, 3.50 ERA, 75 K over 62 IP.

smg58 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 20, 2021 5:55 pm But I'll go for a dull medium with 3-4, 3.50 ERA, 75 K over 62 IP.

That sounds like what I expect, too, but with a few terrible outings that drive that ERA up to 4.10.

Later

Is he a lock to make the team?

Depending on health. I would imagine the team isn't in any rush to eat $11.67 million.

Pleasant surprise for 2021 but the fans will focus on 1-2 blow ups (as usual).

Like Betances, I really expected him to have been traded by now. And also like with Betances, I suspect his contract was the reason why that didn't happen.

Unlike Betances, I think Familia makes it through the season as a Met. I also predict that he'll change his first name to "Bobby" so that Gary Cohen can stop saying "Jay-or-Reese".

I expect him to be brilliant and terrible in about equal ratios. He's Harvey Two Face out there.

I kinda think Fammy will settle into his role and be a good Met again. Pitch to a 3.03 ERA, 2 wins, 2 losses and 2 saves. Like, 60 appearances including a few "opener" roles

He'll give up a lot of, well, everything. We'll see that pained look on his face over and over this summer. 1-2, 6.00, released late in the year.