The Rays have released righty Danny Farquhar, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). He had previously been outrighted off of the 40-man roster and was pitching at Triple-A Durham.
Farquhar, 30, turned in a strong 2016 season with Tampa Bay, although he was quite prone to the long ball. But he stumbled in his first 35 frames in the current campaign. While Farquhar reversed the dinger problems, he allowed 5.7 free passes per nine while recording only 8.5 K/9 after topping eleven per nine in the prior year.
That said, there were reasons to hope for improvement. In particular, Farquhar was still getting swings and misses on over 14% of his pitches. But he went on to allow three earned runs and three walks over his four appearances at Durham.
The Rays are looking for relief options, but evidently felt Farquhar wasn’t a possible solution. In a move that likely holds at least some connection to today’s decision, the team just picked up Chaz Roe — who carries a generally similar profile — to stash at Triple-A. Other organizations, though, may still see the potential in Farquhar, who has at times been quite effective at the game’s highest level.
I wish it could of gone a little better for Danny and Tampa Bay. I thought he would prove to be a solid late inning option and it just never panned out. Best of luck to him going forward in his career. Have a feeling he gets it together eventually. Hope that pen tightens up a bit here in the second half. They could give this team a real honest chance at a solid playoff run. Rays Up!
Pick him up atlanta
I am a Sox fan–we have a fairly solid pen but I have liked Farquar going back to his days with Seattle.. I hope he gets picked up by someone in the NL–I don’t want him appearing against my Sox in the regular season. I’m happy Tampa let him go. He will be picked up. Good luck.
Cards should give him a chance.