Philadelphia Phillies: End the Jeurys Familia experiment
The Philadelphia Phillies are coming off of a four-game series sweep against the Pittsburgh Pirates. This sweep was secured in large part to the efforts of players like Rhys Hoskins, Alec Bohm, Seranthony Dominguez, and many more. While those players all impacted to series positively, one player, armed with nothing but, well, his arm, nearly lost, blew the sweep single-handedly.
Jeurys Familia has been a source of frustration for the Phillies and their fans all season long as he has continually blown leads. One could call Familia Cyndi Lauper as, time after time, he has entered directly, impacting seven losses while nearly blowing two more games. It’s staggering how poor his play has been but what’s even more shocking is that he is repeatedly asked to hold the lead late in games, most often in the seventh and eighth innings.
Familia owns a horrific 6.09 ERA on the season on the season. He’s failed no matter the inning he’s appeared in but has a particular skill for falling late in games, particularly the ninth. How bad is Familia in the ninth inning? He gave up an earned run in the ninth inning of the finale against the Pirates, and his ERA in the ninth actually went down. That’s how much of a nightmare the Jeurys Familia experience has been.
After four months and seemingly countless headaches, it’s time for the Philadelphia Phillies to end the Jeurys Familia experiment.
It was a stretch from the start as Familia had clearly already regressed in recent years, but it’s been confirmed by this point. Familia cannot be counted on by a team looking to compete. With a terrible WHIP of 1.85, batters hitting .333 against him, and a 49.5% Hard-Hit Rate, all the signs are present that he cannot be allowed to continue with this team.
In all honesty, the team should have, at the very least, removed Familia from the bullpen some time ago, but they allowed him to continue and gave him the chance to redeem himself. That may have been the hope, but Familia did himself no favors in this series against the Pirates.
Next. Johan Camargo optioned to Lehigh Valley. dark
It’s painfully obvious to nearly everyone at this point, but the Jeurys Familia experiment is a confirmed failure, and it’s time to end it.