Mets had contact with Jeurys Familia before lockout?

Jeurys Familia has spent parts of 10 seasons with the Mets, which makes up most of his career thus far. The only time he spent with another organization was when the Mets traded him to Oakland before the deadline in 2018, but he re-signed with the Amazin's on a three-year deal in the following offseason. With that deal now completed, Familia has returned to free agency, and the Mets have interest in re-signing him yet again. Mike Puma of the New York Post reports that, before the lockout, the Mets had “maintained contact with the right-hander’s camp.”

The Mets were one of the busiest teams before the lockout, handing out contracts to Max Scherzer, Starling Marte, Eduardo Escobar and Mark Canha, bolstering their rotation and their lineup, and vaulting their 2022 Opening Day payroll up above $263 million. But one area of the Mets that has yet to be addressed is the bullpen.

Their relievers performed adequately in 2021, finishing ninth in MLB in ERA, 10th in fWAR, sixth in strikeout rate and 13th in walk rate. However, the bullpen lost one of its most productive members, Aaron Loup, who parlayed an incredible 0.95 ERA in 2021 into a two-year, $17 million deal with the Angels.

Familia, now 32, also had a good year for the Mets, throwing 59 1/3 innings with an ERA of 3.94, with an excellent strikeout rate of 27.5%. His walk rate of 10.3% was a bit higher than the league average of 8.7%, but it was still a marked improvement for Familia, as he had been above 15% in each of the previous two seasons.