With so many candidates and a limited number of roster spots, Giants manager Bruce Bochy had to make some tough decisions for the pitching portion of his All-Star roster for next Tuesday night.
One of those tough decisions was to leave Mets closer Jeurys Familia off the National League All-Star team, and to nominate him for the final five in which the fans will determine his fate.
“I know all about him,” Bochy said about Familia. “He’s got great stuff. And, of course, he had a great first half. That’s why he’s on the fan voting. You’re not on that unless you receive a lot of consideration.”
Bochy acknowledged he wanted to nominate others for the final five, but as was the case with leaving Familia off the roster for now, he had to eliminate some well deserving players from the final vote.
“There’s even some I had to leave off that. I hated to do it. That’s how much I thought about [Familia]. He certainly earned to be on that.”
Terry Collins believes Familia is very deserving of an All-Star nod a week from Tuesday in Cincinnati.
“He’s had an All-Star first half, I’ll tell you that,” Collins said before Monday’s game. “Twenty-two saves. Batting average of about .150 against him. ‘Plus’ stuff. In a decimated bullpen, this guy saved us. We’ve asked him to do things a lot of other closers don’t do. In my mind, he’s had an All-Star first half.”
He has, and Familia has arguably been the team’s MVP to date in the season. He has been automatic and lights out day in and day out. He has answered Collins’ call for multiple inning saves on several occasions with only one failure, all of which has come in his first season as a closer in which he probably never should have been in that role to begin with.
Despite the snub, Familia was neither disappointed nor surprised he was left off of Bochy’s roster.
“I’m not surprised,” Familia said before notching his 23rd save of the season on Monday. “Everything happens in my life for a reason. I’m not worried about it. I’m just going to try to keep doing my job. It is what it is.”
He faces a tall task in the final five with Troy Tulowitzki, Clayton Kershaw, and Johnny Cueto among the other candidates. But that should not diminish his accomplishments whatsoever this season. Its an unfortunate circumstance of a flawed system in which the manager of the club has to make difficult decisions.
He has earned his place as an elite closer in the game. Besides, the most important games he can pitch on behalf of the Mets are in October.
And if the Mets get there, he will be a huge reason for that.
Just Mets 