New York Mets: Terry Collins' closer usage could hurt him

Already on the hot seat, New York Mets manager Terry Collins could be opening himself up to more criticism with the handling of his closer.

After reaching last year’s World Series, the New York Mets expected to be knocking on the door once again in 2016. It hasn’t been quite that easy, but it rarely is. Currently, the club owns a 66-63 record, which lands it nine games back in the NL East and 2.5 behind the second Wild Card spot. That’s by no means a terrible situation, though the franchise likely hoped to be in somewhat of a more commanding position heading into September.

If the defending National League champs indeed fail to reach the postseason, changes could be made. And blame tends to be laid at the feet of the manager. Terry Collins has navigated periods of praise and criticism during his stint as Mets skipper, but lately it’s been more of the latter. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports claims that if Collins does end up getting the axe, his management of closer Jeurys Familia will have played a key role in his demise.

When you have a great closer, it’s hard not to rely on him. Collins and the Mets have certainly leaned on Familia a lot over the past few seasons. Since the beginning of the 2014 campaign, the 26-year-old right-hander has appeared in 213 games, tying him with the Cleveland Indians’ Bryan Shaw for the most relief appearances over that span. Rosenthal is quick to point out, however, that Shaw is not a closer, putting Familia’s workload into some further context.

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Familia is well on his way to exceeding 75 appearances for the third consecutive season. His 61 appearances at the moment are tied for ninth-most in the majors, but only one pitcher ahead of him on that list has notched more than 10 saves (Seung-hwan Oh – 13).

Despite his frequent use, Familia has remained a very effective ninth-inning man for the Mets. He’s nailed down 42 of 45 save opportunities this year. Those 42 saves lead both leagues and are only one behind the total he posted last season. Familia has also managed a 2.70 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and 2.78 K/BB ratio in 60 innings.

That said, Familia hasn’t been quite as dominant as he was in 2015. Last year he boasted a 1.85 ERA to go with a 1.00 WHIP and 4.53 K/BB. The most noticeable difference this season is that he’s walking more batters: his 3.5 BB/9 is up from 2.2 BB/9 a year ago. One could speculate whether the mounting mileage has anything to do with that, but it would largely seem like nitpicking. Any way you slice it, Familia has remained one of the game’s top closers this season.

If he scuffles down the stretch, then that becomes a much easier narrative to push. Familia did have a rough week toward the end of July. Between July 22 and 28, he gave up five earned runs over 4.1 innings (10.38 ERA) while blowing two straight saves on the 27th and 28th. Every reliever goes through rough patches, though, and since then Familia has surrendered only one earned run in 11.1 frames.

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The Mets have struggled scoring runs this year, needing to eke out their fair share of close wins to keep themselves afloat. It’s difficult to really blame Collins for calling on his closer with a chance to win ballgames in a high-pressure environment, even in non-save situations on occasion. If it doesn’t come around to bite them and the Mets make the playoffs, no one complains.

But if the team fizzles in the final month and Collins is shown the door, expect his handling of his closer to be used as part of the justification for the decision.

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