Mets front office was reportedly split on reuniting with Jeurys Familia

The Jeurys Familia deal with the New York Mets is off to a poor start. To make things worse, the front office was reportedly largely opposed to the idea of bringing him back.

There may be a lot of “I told you so” going on in the New York Mets front office this season. According to Matt Ehalt of Yahoo Sports, one of the bad decisions from the offseason made by rookie general manager Brodie Van Wagenen had those decision makers split.

When the Mets reunited with Jeurys Familia in mid-December, it was a bit of a shock. They had just traded him away to the Oakland Athletics a few months earlier. For many, it was the end of a satisfying stint with the ball club. Familia was never fully embraced in New York because of his postseason struggles. However, many did agree he was a reliable albeit shaky closer in the regular season.

With Edwin Diaz already on the roster, the thought was Familia could return in a lesser role. Now a setup man but paid like a closer, the Mets were stocking up on what they hoped was a loaded bullpen.

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Unfortunately, they couldn’t have been more wrong. Those who didn’t want to bring Familia back to Flushing probably have that sick feeling of regret. Whatever it was that drew BVW to Familia seems to have disappeared. Likely, those who were happy to move on wish they had spoken up a little louder—or at least thrown a chair in disgust.

Familia’s contract pays him a devilish total of $6,666,666 this year and goes up to $11,666,667 in each of the next two seasons. He has some incentives and an extra million bucks coming his way if the Mets trade him.

I’ll start a GoFundMe. Any takers?

This money could have been better spent elsewhere either in bolstering the bullpen with a different arm or spending it more wisely on a different upgrade. Heck, sitting in Jeff Wilpon’s pocket would have been a better use. Familia and his 7.50 ERA in the first half have been that horrific.

From Ehalt’s story, the biggest takeaway for me is how many leaks are making their way out from this franchise. One thing I noticed during the offseason was how tightly lipped Mets rumors were. The Familia signing and the Jed Lowrie deal seemed to come out of nowhere. Early on, it seemed Van Wagenen was able to keep information in house.

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Information like this further shows how there’s at least someone out there who wants to make Van Wagenen look bad. One surefire way to do it is reveal how opposed others were to one of the offseason’s bad decisions. The only thing worse would be to hear he thought Robinson Cano was on an expiring contract.