Immediate Dividend

It didn't take long for Jeurys Familia to have an impact on his new team. In its first appearance for Oakland after Saturday's trade, the veteran closer worked the final two innings as the A's beat their cross-bay rivals the Giants 6-5 in 10 innings.
Manager Bob Melvin plugged in his new acquistion immediately... and ran counter to "conventional wisdom" by keeping Familia in for a second inning of work. Of course, between the 9th and 10th, he only threw 22 pitches, hardly an excessive workload.
Can you image how happy Familia is to be freed from a losing situation in New York -- especially as he joins one of baseball's surprise teams, that's now considered a legitimate wild card contender?
So the optics of the Familia trade -- including the two low-level prospects received -- don't look especially good at the moment for the Mets.
Neither does the disconnect between Yoenis Cespedes and club's front office regarding his physical condition.
Nor the bizarre medical development on Sunday -- where the team's number-two starter Noah Syndergaard landed on the disabled list with Hand, Foot and Mouth disease. As my WFAN colleague Lori Rubison noted on air, that's something you might have expected George Washington to contract from his horse, not a professional athlete in 2018.
Sometimes you wonder if Rod Serling hasn't become one of the club's investors.
(This image of Familia is from a September 2016 game at Citi Field.)

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