Barber: New A's reliever Jeurys Familia arrives in the nick of time and proves his worth

OAKLAND

Billy Beane, David Forst and Bob Melvin know more about baseball than I do. I understood this before the A’s beat the Giants in 10 innings Sunday at the Oakland Coliseum, but apparently they are now determined to rub my face in it.

I didn’t like the Jeurys Familia trade.

Yes, Familia proved to be a highly capable relief pitcher during his 6½ years with the New York Mets. That includes this season, as he saved 17 games and had a strikeout/walk ratio of 43/14 before the floundering Mets shipped him to Oakland. He certainly promises to add more to the A’s 2018 playoff run than the minor leaguers for which he was traded, third baseman Will Toffey and pitcher Bobby Wahl.

Familia is a welcome addition. But let’s be honest, the bullpen was already an area of strength before he got here. Ryan Buchter, Lou Trivino and All-Star Blake Treinen were coalescing into a formidable seventh-eighth-ninth-inning machine. And Familia became the A’s seventh right-handed relief pitcher; Buchter is the only left-hander. There were assets this team needed more than a back-end righty.

Anyway, Familia’s contract expires at the end of the season. He could easily turn out to be little more than a two-month loaner for the A’s. Will Familia, in those two months, be the difference that allows Oakland to leap-frog the Astros, Red Sox and Yankees and become the best team in the American League? No, he won’t. So why not keep the prospects and keep the momentum building in 2019 and beyond?

The trade for Familia felt not so much like a calculated roster move as another promise to the A’s jaded fan base: We’re trying to win a title here. We really are. And here’s the proof!

But Beane (the Athletics’ executive VP of baseball operations), Forst (the general manager) and Melvin (duh, the manager) got the laugh on Sunday. It took Familia exactly one day in an A’s uniform to show exactly what he adds.

Treinen had thrown 40 pitches in Oakland’s 11-inning win against the Giants on Saturday night, a heavy load for a closer. So he was unavailable on Sunday. And Trivino, who has been nearly as good as Treinen in 2018, had his first clunky outing in weeks. He entered the game with a 4-1 lead in the seventh inning, with two outs and two on, and immediately gave up a double to San Francisco’s Pablo Sandoval and a flared single to Alen Hanson. The game was tied. Trivino got one out to end the inning, and that was his afternoon.

Things got even more dire in the top of the eighth when Yusmeiro Petit, the A’s Swiss Army reliever, was tagged for a home run by Andrew McCutchen.

So the A’s really needed Familia on Sunday. He wasn’t a high-priced luxury or a heavy-handed message to the Oakland faithful. He was a guy whom Melvin needed to win a game.

And man, Familia came through. He began the ninth inning by giving up a single down the first-base line to Austin Slater. Then he rattled off six straight outs, including an infield double play to snuff out that base runner in the eighth. The A’s made him a winner in the bottom of the 10th when Matt Chapman’s chopper rolled up the heel of Brandon Crawford’s glove and ricocheted into center field, bringing home Marcus Semien with the winning run.

How could I have underestimated the 2018 A’s ability to turn everything they touch into gold? These guys haven’t lost a series since June 14.

“When you have that kind of a trade, and you come to a new team, first impressions are important,” Melvin said of Familia. “When you pitch the way he did, it makes you feel like part of the team very quickly.”

Consider Familia’s last two weeks. Rumors of his impending departure from New York accelerated into the All-Star break and picked up anew when play resumed late last week. He was already being linked to the A’s on Friday. The trade was finally announced Saturday.

“It was really difficult,” Familia said through an interpreter after the game. “I spent 11 years there, six years professionally, or in the bigs. It was really tough to say goodbye to some of those guys. But I was prepared mentally. … It was tough, but also I knew it was coming.”

Consider his Sunday. Familia said he flew out of New York about 7 a.m., landed in Oakland and drove straight to the Coliseum. He arrived here at 11:15 or 11:20 a.m., with first pitch scheduled for 1:05 p.m. The A’s handed him a No. 62 jersey and told him he was likely to close the game if the Athletics led. Instead, he entered with the game tied 5-5 and proceeded to get the win.

“Typically those type of guys are used to coming in a game with the lead. But to come in in a tie game, you have to be perfect,” Melvin said. “And to do two innings in a row, first time in front of the fan base, in front of your team, there’s probably some nerves involved.”

Could have fooled us. Definitely fooled the Giants’ Steven Duggar, who struck out swinging on an 89-mile-an-hour slider in the ninth.

Familia said that A’s catcher Jonathan Lucroy basically gave him a crash course when he arrived at the ballpark.

“From the moment I got here, we were working on signs, working on going over things that have changed,” Familia said. “But I also know there’s a lot of video, and they know what I have - sinker-slider.”

Lucroy claimed it wasn’t all that hard to get on the same page, especially since he had batted against Familia before.

“I’ve been traded twice the past two years in the middle of the season,” Lucroy said. “So I had to learn 11 guys, 12 guys in the span of one or two days. So having one guy come in that I have faced before, and I know what he has, doesn’t bother me too much. Pretty simple. He has a real good sinker, good slider and splitty.”

Familia’s presence gives Melvin a wealth of options in late innings. He has multiple pitchers who can throw the seventh, at least a couple who can pitch the eighth, and two or three who can close out an opponent in the ninth or beyond. It allows the manager great latitude in deciding when he’s seen enough from his starter, or from any single reliever.

“It’s probably the best bullpen I’ve had since my time in the league,” said Lucroy, now in his ninth MLB season. “One of the keys to a successful team is having a strong bullpen. If you have a strong bullpen, your starters, even if they get roughed up a little bit, and the bullpen comes in and keeps the game close, it enables your lineup to kind of settle in and get comfortable.”

So whatever, A’s. Trade all your minor-league prospects for Baltimore closer Zach Britton. Deal Sean Manaea for four shortstops. You might not win the World Series this year, but it’s clear that every move you make is going to be a winner - and that you aren’t going away anytime soon.

You can reach columnist Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. Follow him on Twitter: ?@Skinny_Post.