Vic Black is out, Jose Valverde officially in, and the Mets’ top reliever this spring, Jeurys Familia, still has to show he is a worthy candidate to pitch the eighth inning.
The Mets came close to settling their Opening Day bullpen on Wednesday, when Black — once considered the team’s primary setup option — was demoted to minor league camp.
Black — who arrived in August as part of the deal that sent Marlon Byrd to the Pirates — had a 5.79 ERA, with 10 walks in 9 ¹/₃ innings this spring. The fireballing righty had impressed team officials over the final month of 2013 to the point he was considered Plan B if closer Bobby Parnell wasn’t going to be ready for the season after undergoing September surgery for a herniated disk in his neck.
But Black couldn’t control his pitches this exhibition season.
“It just was a bad spring, and they’re trying to put a team together that is going to give them the best possibility to win and right now,” Black said. “They didn’t have that with me.”
Parnell, Valverde, Familia, Carlos Torres, Scott Rice and John Lannan have filled six spots in the Mets bullpen. The final spot, with Black’s demotion, likely will be given to Gonzalez Germen, although the Mets still can consider veteran Kyle Farnsworth, who was re-signed on Wednesday.
The decision to demote Black was difficult, according to manager Terry Collins.
“This guy came last September and pitched about as well as anybody on our staff,” Collins said. “I told him this morning, he’s got to go and get his command. His velocity was getting better and better, but you’ve got to command the baseball, just like he did last fall.”
The veteran Valverde was placed on the 40-man roster and will be the Mets’ primary setup option heading into Parnell, according to Collins. The manager indicated he probably won’t use Parnell three days in a row, at least early in the season, putting the 36-year-old Valverde in position to serve as the backup closer.
Valverde converted 49 of 49 save opportunities with the Tigers in 2011, but struggled last season and was demoted to Triple-A.
“Valverde certainly is that guy that is going to hopefully be that bridge to [Parnell],” Collins said. “If he commands the fastball, he gets people out. He’s commanded the fastball. His velocity has been very good this spring, and once they know they’ve got to hunt the fastball and get ready to hit it, your offspeed stuff gets outs.”
Familia hadn’t allowed a run in eight appearances this spring, entering Thursday night’s game against the Astros, but the Mets still want to see more from the 24-year-old righty before considering him for the eighth or ninth inning.
Familia walked three batters over two innings on Tuesday against the Nationals, showing a passiveness that disturbed pitching coach Dan Warthen.
“I think [Familia] has opened everybody’s eyes with his ability, but he is also aware that he still needs to grow a little bit as far as maturity,” Warthen said. “He has to be more aggressive on the mound, he has to be a little stronger. We’d love to see him know that he throws 100 mph — he has nasty breaking stuff. We all know it and we want him to know it.”
The Mets can envision Familia in a back-end of the bullpen role eventually, but want him to earn it.
“Right now I’m going to work, get ahead more and be more aggressive,” Famila said. “I trust my stuff.”