Archive for Kyle Farnsworth
Rumors: Kyle Farnsworth
Posted by: | CommentsIn his oft-updated trade deadline piece, Ken Rosenthal notes that the Yanks are, according to an MLB source, “begging” to get rid of Kyle Farnsworth. There’s no way this guy’s still on the Yanks tonight.
Will it ever end with Farnsworth?
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s one thing to not be pitching well. Take Scott Proctor for example. He’s not finding the same kind of success he had last year, but he places the blame on himself (or his equipment, but a baseball player should be one with his equipment, and I’ll cut the faux philosophical baloney for now). Many people don’t want to see Proctor pitching right now, but fewer are calling for his immediate departure. That’s because the dude doesn’t bitch and whine.
Kyle Farnsworth, though, is not nearly as affable. He has been disastrous all year, and instead of taking the blame himself (which he apparently does when his PR guy tells him to), he blames external factors. From Pete Abraham’s blog”
“I don’t like [not pitching regularly] at all,” he said. “I didn’t come here to sit on the bench. That definitely doesn’t help.”
Well soooorrrry, Kyle, but you kind of have to earn playing time. It would be one thing to complain if he was rotting in the bullpen like Ron Villone was for the first few months of last season. But Farnsworth gets chance after chance, yet continues to fail. Hell, his manager even went out of his way to say he hasn’t seen any inconsistency from him, when any dunderhead with 20/40 vision could tell you otherwise.
The worst thing you can do to lead off the 8th inning is to walk a backup catcher with an OPS+ of 54. Likewise, the worst thing you can do after pitching poorly is to complain about your usage patterns. This isn’t to say we approve of Joe Torre’s bullpen usage; that’s an issue I’m just not prepared to address right now, because it’s reaching term paper level. There is, however, one golden rule of the Torre pen:
If you walk dudes, you’re going to sit for prolonged periods of time.
Of course, the more money you make the longer it takes for you to find a seat on the bench. But eventually you’re going to find your way there. The move for Farnsworth was long overdue, and that’s obvious to even the most staunch Kyle supporter — if there are any.
Our next game is at 7 p.m. on Tuesday; the trade deadline is at 4. Anyone think that Krazy Kyle will be sitting next to Mariano at that point?
Tigers looking to acquire Farnsworth
Posted by: | CommentsWhy they would want to do this I don’t know. It comes from our pal George King, though, so take it as you will.
I want to dish Farns as much as the next guy, but I wouldn’t advocate doing it to Detroit unless we get some serious bounty. And why would Detroit give up anything significant for an overpaid, underperforming reliever?
This is the move that has the chance to bite you in the ass as early as this year. Unless we’re talking Ian Kennedy and Kyle Farnsworth for Andrew Miller (and Dave Dombrowski isn’t that dumb), stay away from this one.
The impending end of Kyle Farnsworth?
Posted by: | CommentsThe Yanks, yesterday, inked discarded reliever Scott Williamson to a Minor League contract. Williamson, formerly with the Orioles, was hurt for much of the season. In just 14.1 appearances spanning 16 games, he had allowed 12 hits while striking out 16 and walking 8. His ERA on the season stands at 4.40. I have to wonder if this deal is another sign that Kyle Farnsworth’s time on the Yanks is limited. The Yanks have demoted him, thanksfully, from the 8th inning role and have numerous arms to replace his in the pen.
I hate Kyle Farnsworth
Posted by: | CommentsWhy couldn’t Luis Vizcaino stay in the game there?
And as I write this, Andy Phillips makes a great play to bail out Farns. Kyle, you owe Andy a steak dinner, or about $5.25M of ‘em…
1-2-3
Posted by: | CommentsStop the game. Break out the champagne. Kyle Farnsworth just threw a 1-2-3 inning.
The Kyle Konundrum
Posted by: | Comments
What good is a win without a little controversy? After a long wait — seven days, to be exact — the Yanks finally won a game as they, powered by three A-Rod hits, narrowly beat the A’s 2-1.
Mike Mussina pitched 7 strong innings against a team struggling as much as the Yanks were, and Mariano Rivera closed out the final 1.1 innings with 3 K’s to nail down his 10th save of the year. But what happened in between Moose’s departure and Rivera’s arrival was the story of the game.
To start the 8th inning, Joe Torre went with his typical game plan. Now, keep in mind that this game plan has worked approximately three times this year. That’s right; just three times this season, Farnsworth has worked 1-2-3 innings. As you can guess, tonight was not one of them.
Farnsworth’s role, defined
Posted by: | CommentsWhile chatting on the Banter last night during the heart attack-inducing end of the game, I noticed a fellow commenter state that Kyle Farnsworth should be the David Ortiz specialist. The numbers, albeit in limited plate appearances, bear out that statement. Farnsworth has faced Ortiz 9 times. Ortiz is 0 for 6 with 4 Ks and 3 BBs. When you compare those numbers to Ortiz’s .313/.333/.563 line in 17 plate appearances against lefty specialist Mike Myers, it’s clear who should be pitching to Ortiz with the game on the line.
Apologies for the misleading information
Posted by: | CommentsI guess I need to check my work. Here’s Kyle’s breakdown when pitching back-to-back days last year:
April 4; April 5 – 1 ER
April 14; April 15 – 0 ER
April 26; April 27 – 0 ER
May 15; May 16 – 0 ER
May 23; May 24 – 0 ER
May 28; May 29 – 0 ER; May 30 – 1 ER (but that’s the third day)
June 1; June 2 – 0 ER
June 27; June 28 – 0 ER
July 7; July 8 – 0 ER; July 9 – 0 ER (third day in a row with no earned runs)
July 18; July 19 – 0 ER
August 8; August 9 – 4 ER (shoulda checked my work before I posted that)
September 16; September 17 – 1 ER
Okay, so I missed three games: April 5, August 9 (and how could I forget THAT game?), and September 17. That’s 12 appearances (apparently I did count the third straight days in my initial count – apologies again), and only thrice did he allow a run.
Maybe it’s not as appalling as I had made it out to be at first. But looking at this, would you say he’s had trouble pitching back-to-back days? I wouldn’t. He did it nine straight times before August 9. That’s where the myth began, I believe, since it only happened once the rest of the season.
One again, apologies for rushing that post up without checking my work. I still think I have a valid point, though not as emphatic as I thought it was yesterday.
Perception is reality
Posted by: | CommentsMichael Kay just infuriates me. Kyle Farnsworth comes on to pitch the eighth, and Kay says that Farnsworth doesn’t pitch well on back-to-back days.
I bet Michael Kay never looked at Kyle’s game log from last year. If he did, he would see that Farnsworth pitched back-to-back days 14 times last year. In the second of those games, he allowed zero runs. As in not any. Not one. He did get jacked up once when he pitched three games in a row, in the third game. But he did not allow any runs in the second of that set.
Of course, Farnsworth gives up a run on a broken-bat single, a bullshit steal, and a single. He pitched plenty well, but he’s still going to get shit for it. Amazing.
Update: I’m wrong, but not as wrong as Kay. I’ve posted my correction above.
