Closer doesn’t appeal to protect free agency
PORT ST. LUCIE — MLB commissioner Rob Manfred lacked evidence to levy a long suspension on Mets closer Jeurys Familia, but still wanted to impose a ban meaningful enough to emphasize his administration’s intolerance for domestic abuse.
Familia and his lawyers felt they could win a challenge against a suspension of any type, but saw enough risk — particularly the possibility of Familia losing the right to become a free agent after the 2018 season — to relent.
The compromise was a 15-game sanction that, at least for the Mets, is far shorter than they have been anticipating for months.
The announcement was made Wednesday with Manfred acknowledging, “The evidence reviewed by my office does not support a determination that Mr. Familia physically assaulted his wife, or threatened her or oth- ers with physical force or harm, on October 31, 2016. Nevertheless, I have concluded that Mr. Familia’s overall conduct that night was inappropriate, violated the Policy, and warrants discipline.”
The discipline of 15 games — it begins Ope n - ing Day — is half of wh a t New York’s other closer, Aroldis Chapman, received last year. In that case, there was a weapon involved (Chapman fired a gun into his garage door) among several other more worrisome details.
In t hi s case, there was no weapon, and t he prosecutor offered no supporting evidence of physical abuse. In addition, Manfred, in his statement, noted Familia already has undergone 12 90-minute sessions with a counselor specializing in domestic abuse and that his office received “a favorable evaluation” from the counselor.
Jay Reisinger, who defended both Chapman and F am ilia before Manfred, refused comment. F am ilia accepted the ban, emphasizing he never put his hands on his wife while acknowledging “inappropriate behavior” in a statement.
Still, his side felt they had a good chance to win an arbitration case against even the 15-game ban, but sources say a few factors went into accepting the penalty.
Namely, Manfred could have imposed a suspension of 31 or more days, which, if upheld, would have been enough time to leave Familia short of the service time necessary to become a free agent after the 2018 season. A 15-game ban does not interfere with his free agency.
Also, MLB and the players association have been operating without an independent arbitrator for months. A suspension imposed by the commissioner under the domestic abuse protocols does not allow for a stay that would let Familia continue playing during an appeal. His side believed it would take more than 15 games to agree upon an arbitrator, hear the case and have the arbitrator render a verdict. If he won, Familia would have gotten back his service time and pay, but lost more than 15 games. So the 15 games was accepted. This allowed Manfred to dole out a penalty that, while the shortest of the four handed out under his relatively new domestic-abuse powers( Chapman, Jose Reyes and Hector Olivera all received longer), continued to display his authority to rule in this area, even without criminal charges pressed. Familia, mean- while, received a lesser penalty than first envisioned, and by mid-April will be back as the Mets’ closer.
Until then, Addison Reed will serve as the closer, and the Mets will feel validated in signing Jerry Blevins and Fernando Salas late in the offseason, in part anticipating this moment. They believe Hansel Robles has grown up somewhat to handle a more advanced role, and they plan to have a starter who does not make the rotation — likely Seth Lugo or Robert Gsellman — available to help with even the final nine outs of a game.
“Obviously, we would be a lot better off with Familia,” assistant general manager John Ricco told The Post before the announcement, anticipating a suspension at some point. “But if you have a guy who can f inish, and we believe we do in Reed, then you can fill in around him.”