Through three rehab appearances for Single-A Port St. Lucie, former Mets closer and current awesome beard-grower Bobby Parnell isn’t exactly lighting up the competition. Quite the opposite, in fact. The owner of a 10.13 ERA, Parnell’s fastball has been floating around the 90 MPH mark. Parnell is returning from Tommy John surgery, and has been building up arm strength for the past few months as he nears his return to the Amazin’s. Mets skipper Terry Collins has found a temporary fill-in of the closer role in Jeurys Familia, but he may have found a permanent replacement in the process. Familia has converted all seven of his save attempts, and avoided using performance-enhancers like those that held the finishing job before him (looking at you, Jenrry Mejía.) Collins recently proclaimed that Familia will remain the closer upon Parnell’s initial return, as he should. Familia is pitching far better in the bigs than Parnell has been in the minors. Since Familia took over as closer, he has been lights out, sinker-balling his way to a tie for the MLB lead in saves. It would be in the Mets best interest for Familia to continue to close not only when Parnell returns, but for the rest of the season, and as long as the Mets can extend the season.
↧