Mets: Is trading Jeurys Familia the key to acquiring another star?

With the New York Mets still on the hunt for upgrades across the roster, Jeurys Familia may be one of the players on the outside looking in.

After the New York Mets sent shockwaves across the baseball industry on Thursday afternoon with the acquisition of both shortstop Francisco Lindor and starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco, the attention has turned to what will the Mets do next? It’s a legitimate question that has been discussed ad nauseam as the front office still has around $28 million to spend on upgrading the roster before going over the luxury tax threshold.

The Mets’ current needs include a centerfielder, a left-handed reliever, and some additional starting pitching depth. There is also a possibility that the front office looks to upgrade the third base situation as there have been rumors recently connecting the Mets to Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant and Seattle Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager. Acquiring either of those two players or even signing George Springer for that matter will bring the Mets much closer to the luxury tax threshold.

If the Mets are hoping to avoid hitting the luxury tax they may have to start shedding some cash if they want to acquire another star this offseason. The first candidate that comes to mind for me is reliever Jeurys Familia who enters the final year of his three-year deal and is owed $11 million in 2021. The 31-year old Familia certainly has had a mixed bag of results during his second stint with the Mets but he has proven at times he can still be an effective reliever.

Familia had a bit of a bounce-back during the 2020 season which included him shedding some weight prior to Spring Training after a disastrous 2019 campaign. Familia posted a 3.71 ERA over 25 appearances last season in comparison to the unsightly 5.70 ERA over 66 appearances back in 2019.

However, Familia’s Achilles heel continues to be his ugly walk rate. Over the last two seasons Familia has walked around six batters per nine innings. If an organization believes it can fix Familia’s control issues, there is certainly an incentive there for a team to inquire about his services.

If the Mets were to include Familia in a trade you would anticipate it would be for one of the aforementioned players above such as Kris Bryant or Kyle Seager which would help the Mets stay under the luxury tax. It’s also possible that a team that may be desperate for relief help makes a call to the Mets at some point this winter and if the Mets eat some of the $11 million remaining on Familia’s contract they could get something of value in return.

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Nonetheless, Jeurys Familia may be one of the names to watch over the next several weeks as the front office continue to shop around for upgrades. Familia’s contract sticks out like a sore thumb and if the organization is serious about acquiring another star player, finding a way to dump the remaining $11 million on Familia’s contract may be one of the most logical methods to achieving that goal.