WINTER WARM-UP
Mets give Familia OK to pitch in DR before WBC
It’s not known yet when Jeurys Familia will next pitch in a regular-season game for the Mets. But the team’s beleaguered closer plans to stay busy in the meantime.
Los Gigantes del Cibao, a Dominican Winter League team, announced Sunday that Familia, who has no travel restrictions because of his October arrest, had received permission from the Mets to pitch for them. The righthander intends to pitch a couple of times for Los Gigantes with the idea the outings will prepare him to compete for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic.
Team officials didn’t return requests for comment, and the WBC has yet to announce its finalized rosters, although Familia is on the Dominican club’s preliminary roster. ESPN first reported of Los Gigantes’ announcement.
New Jersey law-enforcement officials arrested Familia on October 31 at his Fort Lee home and charged him with domestic violence against his wife Bianca Rivas. However, Rivas has been adamant she will not aid law-enforcement officials, and the criminal charges therefore could get dropped this week, when there’s a scheduled court hearing.
Major League Baseball intends to advance its investigation on Familia once the criminal proceedings play out, and there’s a strong likelihood Familia will serve a lengthy suspension to begin the 2017 season. MLB also could move to keep Familia out of the WBC. No such decisions have been made yet.
Familia’s 78 games pitched ranked him fifth in the National League last season, and his 230 games from 2014 through 2016 lead the NL over that span — according to Baseball-Reference.com — and that doesn’t even count his 13 postseason games in 2015 and 2016. His high recent workload nevertheless doesn’t have him concerned about his right arm, based on his plans.