Jeurys Familia Likely To Stay In The Bullpen Instead Of Starting Wednesday

The Mets had tentatively scheduled Jeurys Familia as their starting pitcher for Wednesday, but prior to Suday's game manager Terry Collins sounded like he wanted to keep Familia in the bullpen instead:

Sounds like the Mets won't give Familia that start on 9/19. Collins wants to keep looking at him in the bullpen.

— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughSL) September 16, 2012

Familia has thrown 5-innings out of the bullpen thus far in his brief major league career after throwing a career high 137 in AAA Buffalo this summer. He's averaged a strikeout an inning in the majors after striking out 8.4 per nine at Buffalo.

While I'd hope the team still sees Familia as a long term starting option, I'm not too upset that they're going to continue to allow him to get his feet wet in shorter outings this month. I doubt that 10-12 extra innings this September will have much effect on the development of his secondary offerings.

The Mets haven't yet announced who they'll be starting on Wednesday if they don't give Familia the start, but it would be regular rest for Jon Niese with Thursday being an off day.