Is It Time to Rethink Kyle Farnsworth?

(Just being contrarian)

Farnsworth is on pace to have an almost identical season as he did with NY in 2008, when he posted a 3.65 ERA.

’Low me to ’splain:

2008 NY: 44ip 17 BB 43 K 11 HR
2009 KC: 11ip 4 BB 11K 2 HR

Assuming Farnsworth pitches a total of 44 innings for the Royals, and maintains the same K/9, BB/9, and HR/9 rates, his numbers will be virtually indistinguishable from the ones he posted in NY. The difference is with his runs allowed — he’s much higher in 2009 in that department.

And there’s the rub: if one were to look at Farnsy’s FIP for 2008, you’ll see his 3.65 was mostly the product of smoke and mirrors — his fielding independent pitching was actual 5.53. Which, not surprisingly, is very, very close to his current ERA.

So, Farnsworth isn’t likely to get much better, but he won’t likely be much worse. So, I guess that’s something, but it’s probably something we can easily replace with somebody whose currently in Omaha.

But here we go. Well written post, first of all. However, the fact that this post was written means everyone isnt doing their jobs well enough. If they were and we werent on this losing streak this post wouldnt be written. I was at the K last night and Tejeda was bad Mahay was absolutely god awful. Wright looked like crap on the road trip. Ponson has pitched poorly in the pen(not to mention his fat ass trying to play defense). Cruz has been pretty good, by far the strongest of any of these guys. So my point is the fact that we re even discussing this is a bad and scary thing to say the least. So should we reconsider Farnsworth? As much as it pains me, YES. He can lose games for the royals but i havent seen any real stoppers outside of him either. Does he deserve another opportunity? Yes, but only by default due to Mahay and Tejedas struggles. That being said I will be sweating and constipated next time he pitches when we re in the game or even leading.

the bullpen is struggling and Farnsworth may have regained some confidence now. There are still better situations than others. Don’t bring him in when a power hitting lefty is due up. Definitely try and use him in an inning you know some righties will be coming up. The way the bullpen has been taxed, it’s almost going to be a necessity.

On 810 this morning they were talking about that Jamie Wright has thrown 20 innings already. That is on pace for 90+, that is not going to work and it’s probably part of the reason he’s been reeling a little. It’s really a problem of the starters not being able to go deep enough, something that really has to be corrected.

And I’d sayt that on the basis of the “bad for the Royals fans, great for Royals Bloggers” paragraph alone.

Don’t know if you saw it, but your comment on the “he can’t handle high leverage situations” fallacy echoes my thoughts from lat nights postgame:

Actually, I think the “he sucks in high leverage situations” misses the point

I don’t believe in "clutch" as an ability any more for relievers than I do for any other player.

The problem is that relievers get limited outings anyway — a few perfect or hitless innings in a row isn’t that ipressive, especially when you pitch 1-2 at a time. And we can see how little it matters when a reliever has several perfect outings in a row and then get rocked — his ERA/FIP/ whatever shoots up.

The issue isn’t that he "can’t handle high leverage situations," its that even if it’s "only" one horrible inning, given that a halfway decent reliever is almost always in a higher leverage situation than a starter, such innings have a higher impact.

I’m not saying you disagree with that, just pointing something out I see as a missed point.

Also note that those who say "reliever x has been really good if you take out those first couple outings he got rocked" are obvious cherry-picking, even moreso with the small sample sizes all relievers have.

Let me add that going with the “hot hand” (or maybe the “not as crappy hand”), aside from legit scouting concerns re: delivery or whatever (this is different from when an "anonymous scout’ is quoted saying a player looks “good” when the player is obviously playing well, or “looks bad” when the player is slumping — yeah, thanks, box score guy) is probably even worse than doing it with hitters simply due to sample size. That’s the point I’m making above — saying that “Farns looks good now” is almost meaningless outside of pro scouting circles because of course he’s had some good outings. That doesn’t change his true talent level. This is what you point out — he is who we thought he was.

Now, tRA thinks he’s okay, but Tejeda, et. al. are still better. I still think Tejeda is the better pitcher, and despite his recent struggles, he’s still be better on the season. Again, outside of pro scouting concerns, there’s no really good argument for Farnsworth being preferred over Tejeda at this point.

To summarize: 1.5 months of sporadic reliever peformance is a drop in the ocean of compiled evidence from previous seasons.

I agree — we should rethink Kyle Farnsworth. It shouldn’t take much time: he’s 33, he’s a man, and he still sucks.

but there’s just as much chance that someone else could have and maybe would have blown the leads in those same situations, and a few other guys have been blowing games lately too. I don’t like the guy, and I think he’s not going to be pitching in tight situations until someone else blows three games in three tries.

My girlfriend just asked what was worse: the game being rained out or being played and have them lose again? My response was the game being rained out. We gotta get off this streak and Im watching every mf’ing game til it happens. P.S. Im thinking of dumping my girlfriend. Hahaha

around 3 oclock and said that Soria has had two MRI exams one with a ink dye and both have shown nothing. GMDM says there seems to be nothing wrong and Soria needs to work through it.

The rest of the interview will be at 5 oclock on 810whb.com

Bob Fuckin’ McClure

Just as I’m sold on Seitzer having an effect on plate discipline, and perhaps more so, I am sold on Mac having a dramatic effect on our hurlers’ efficiency. Mac could very well be the ‘Charley Lau’ of pitching coaches.

It’s my opinion that it’s the very reason why it’s not such a drastic gamble GMDM made when picking up Farnsworth. I wanted so bad to call in to Khris and Kowboy yesterday on 610 and rant at them about it. But that is something that I’ve determined is a waste of breath and emotion. I make it a point NOT to call in to shows like that and state anything lucid. They don’t give you the time, and it’s not "good radio". They have an overwhelming advantage of being able to cut you off and twist your statements entirely out of context and intent, therefore the ability to make you look like a total TOOL.

Imagine the radio guys trying to maintain a sustained intelligent argument with Will, Sweep, Devil_Fingers, NYRoyal, nwroyal, et al .. any of you guys. (sorry if I left anyone out there are lots of you) It’s just not what they are paid to do on their live radio shows. Not that I’m saying they couldn’t because I don’t know that for sure about them personally, but their radio personas wouldn’t stand a chance with the above mentioned group IMHO.

Point being, Bob McClure is a bad mofo pitching coach and GMDM knows it. If Mac don’t think the guy is gonna cut it, he’s gonna be gone. And likewise, the guy is not gonna stay here unless Mac thinks it’s worth it to keep him.

Blind Faith in the McClure Magic? Yeah, you could call it that.

That’s what I said on the “Deja Vu” post before, and I say it again now. When he’s not worth keeping, Mac will say “So shall it be written, and So shall it be DONE”

He beat the piss out of Hillman three times in a row. Now he is in the “I’m sorry” stage, trying to fool Hillman into thinking he has changed and deserves another chance. The moment Hillman falls for it (and he will), BAM!!!