A Familia Diazter: The Struggles of Jeurys and Edwin.

Happy Church/Football Sunday everyone!

Yes, it's the First Sunday of Football Season, but right now we'll talk some Baseball!

The Mets Bullpen in the 2nd Half for the Most part has turned itself around. Key word in this is "Most Part." Two Regulars for the Bullpen have been very questionable at the very best.

Lets start with Jeurys Familia. If you don't remember, he was once the Mets closer who was traded in the 2018 season to the Oakland Athletics to help them in their Post Season push and got into the Wild Card.

Familia was an effective Closer for the Mets in 2015 and 2016, but in 2017, he suffered from a Blood Clot in his shoulder and was forced to miss a Majority of the season in order to recover. When the 2018 season rolled around, Familia pitched to a 2.88 ERA as a Closer for the Mets and with the Athletics, he pitched to a 3.45 ERA for a Season total of 3.13 ERA and a Total of 18 out of 24 Saves.

In the 2019 Off-Season, New Mets General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen signed Jeurys Familia to a 3 year 30 Million Dollar deal to be the 8th Inning man for the Mets bullpen.

Enter Edwin Diaz.

In Seattle in 2018, Diaz was a lights out closer for the Seattle Mariners. He pitched to a 1.96 ERA while saving 57 out of 61 Saves! A Terrific year for Diaz, so much so that Brodie Van Wagenen traded for him and Robinson Cano as a package Deal to bring them to the Mets.  

So far with the Mets, Diaz has been Miserable. Whether it's Injury related, Confidence or Just nerves or what have you, Diaz has pitched to a horrible 5.88 ERA and saving 25 out of 32 Saves. That's 7 Blown Saves!

Fans are very hard on Diaz and you can't blame them for some of the harshness.  At the same time, Diaz isn't handling the Pressures of New York well at all. However, This is only his first season with the Mets and he's only 25 years old with a lot of Career left in him!

Lets get into the what was expected of these Two.

With the Acquisition of Edwin Diaz and Signing of Jeurys Familia, The idea in the Winter was to have Familia as the Setup man in the 8th Inning to Edwin Diaz in the 9th Inning. On Paper, it was a Great Idea and a terrific Move! Fans were Thrilled that the Mets acquired Diaz to be the Closer of the Future. Familia's stuff is electric as Mets manager Mickey Callaway will tell you and for the most part, he's right. When Familia is on a Good night, his stuff is Electric and the Same can be said for Diaz.

The Two though haven't had their good nights for a very good portion of the 2019 Season. However, What's saving their season(s) is that the rest of the Bullpen has turned whatever issues they had around and become very effective on most nights in the 2nd Half of the 2019 Season while pushing for a Wild Card spot with only 20 games left to be played. 

With that being said, The Mets have now turned to Justin Wilson/Seth Lugo as the Setup men and Closer(s). What hurts the Mets are Diaz and Familia's struggles. Both are having Career years and not positive either. Both are having the worst years of their Careers as of this Season.

Fans have suggested getting rid of Diaz and having Lugo as the Full-time Closer. I'll make this quick. Lugo absolutely can not be the Full-Time because he has a Partially torn UCL in his Right Elbow. He can't pitch back-to-back days like a Normal closer can. With his Elbow already a ticking Time-Bomb, it would be Foolish for the Mets to move Lugo into the Full-Time Closer's Role and Ship Diaz after only one Season in a Mets Uni. 

To give a Fair determination of Edwin Diaz, The Mets and the Fans need to give Edwin Diaz another Season to see if this is Just Nerves, an Injury, Pressures of New York, etc. The right thing is to see if he can Bounce back in the 2020 Season for the Mets. Start off in a Low Pressure role in the Mets Bullpen and work his way back to the Closer. 

The Same goes for Jeurys Familia. He is here for 2 more years after this season. Bullpens, along with their Relievers are Crap shoots, meaning that it's completely unknown as to how a Bullpen will perform no matter how much money a team puts into it. They can be great one year, but completely falter the Next. 

In Conclusion, The only thing Mets fans and the Mets themselves can hope for is that Familia and Diaz can get it together next season. Getting rid of both of them would be a terrible mistake that would leave the Mets with Gaping Voids in the Bullpen.

That's all for Today.

Until the Next Article my Friends,

LETS GO METS!!!