Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports shares details of the long road ahead for White Sox reliever Danny Farquhar after the right-hander suffered a recent brain aneurysm. The incident occurred in the Sox dugout just under two weeks ago following an outing against Houston, and caused Farquhar to be hospitalized in what was a scary few hours. As Passan notes, 40% of people who suffer a brain aneurysm don’t survive them, while half of those who survive end up with resulting disabilities. He adds that success in the early stages afterwards is measured in small improvements. Farquhar’s agent says he’s been progressing and has a positive outlook. It’s fair to think it’ll be a significant amount of time before Farquhar is able to pick up a baseball again, but the early signs are encouraging for the right-hander’s health. Passan’s lengthy piece also details some historical precedents for aneurysms in baseball players, as well as the adversity Farquhar has already overcome in his seven-year MLB career. We at MLBTR are relieved to hear that Farquhar is stable, and wish him the best of fortunes in the road to recovery.
Other items from around the AL Central…
- Speaking of close calls, Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press has a story from Twins rookie Fernando Romero’s past, when the right-hander almost drowned in a hotel pool. It took a while for Romero to gradually overcome his fear of swimming, but he now uses it as a conditioning method to strengthen his shoulder for pitching purposes. Berardino also tells the tale of how Romero nearly went unsigned for an entire international period, failing to receive an offer from any of the 50 scouts in attendance at a showcase. The main knock on him was lack of a “major league body”, and a perceived likelihood that he’d get hurt. Ultimately Romero found his way to the Perfect Game Tournament, where several more scouts were in attendance, and while the Astros made a strong run at him, he ultimately went to the Twins for a signing bonus of $260K.
- According to Terry Francona (via a tweet from Jordan Bastian of MLB.com), it’s best-case scenario outcome for Indians reliever Nick Goody, who left the first game of Thursday’s doubleheader with an elbow injury. Tests have revealed no structural damage; it’s thought that Goody’s pain was the result of hyperextending his elbow. He’ll reportedly be shut down for a week and then re-evaluated. It’s a sigh of relief when considering the worst-case scenarios in an elbow-fearing pitching climate; it’s well-known that ligament injuries can result in 12-18 month absences. Goody’s a vital part of a Tribe bullpen that’s recently shuffled through a few low-upside relievers; they’ve designated both Matt Belisle and Jeff Beliveau for assignment in the past week and before that lost Andrew Miller to the DL with a hamstring injury.
- Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com tells readers about the plate discipline improvements made by Royals outfielder Jorge Soler. In stark contrast to last season, he’s already drawn 18 walks and has seen 4.46 pitches per plate appearance. His .309/.429/.526 slash line on the season is exactly what Kansas City envisioned when they acquired him from the Cubs prior to last season in exchange for closer Wade Davis. Manager Ned Yost credits the improvements to the fact that Soler is “not chasing much of anything”, though it’s certainly worth noting that his chase rate this year is in line with his typically low figures the past few seasons and therefore not indicative of any major changes. I’d add, though, that Soler is certainly seeing more pitches per plate appearance than he did during his injury-riddled 2017 campaign; he’s seen 4.26 PPPA so far, up from 3.99 last season.
iirc john olerud had a brain aneurysm too. hoping that danny farquhar manages to come back 100%
Amen. Thoughts and prayers.
Get well soon Danny!
I’m hoping for the day when Danny can come back to a standing ovation when he takes the mound.
Yeah he did in college before he ever became a big leaguer. So it is definitely possible to come back so far to have a lengthy big league career.
4.46 or 4.26 pitches per plate appearance?
Happy for Soler for finally putting it together it seems. Kid already has a ring, just needs to establish himself. He has way too much talent to continue being an enigma.
Yes. I had high hopes for Jorge Soler when he was a top Cub prospect. He actually began his MLB career on the North Side of Chicago with more success than the majority of their recent young players. He was also terrific for the Cubs in their 2015 postseason run.
If Soler keeps this up it will be interesting to see how many of the kool-aid drinking Cub fans react in hindsight. They continue to claim that three months of Aroldis Chapman was worth the cost of top prospect Gleyber Torres and more because of their long awaited World Series victory in 2016.
Soler was the price the Cubs paid for closer Wade Davis the following offseason and he was actually more impacting on the Cubs fortunes for an entire season and the playoffs than Chapman was. Of course, the Cubs failed to repeat as champions in 2017. There may come a time where both trades are rued in addition to the 2017 summer blockbuster that sent their remaining top two prospecs in OF Eloy Jimenez and RHP Dylan Cease to their local rivals. All this because the Cub front office prioritized hitting with their amateur domestic and international acquisitions rather than balancing that out with more pitching.
For the record as a lifelong Cub fan I was not happy with any of these trades when they occurred. However, I would have been somewhat appeased had the Cubs actually signed Chapman or Davis long term when they became FA’s the following offseason. With Chapman in particular this would have negated the need to pursue Davis the following offseason.
As a life-long White Sox fan also, I am still doing cartwheels over the Jose Quintana trade that netted the South Siders Jimenez and Cease.
Flags fly forever you rube. Any knowledgeable Cubs fan older than 21 could care less that they made trades that helped them win a World Series. Any suggestion to the contrary is laughable.
I’m three times that age and have suffered through more agony as a Cub fan than most. I also think that you and your other kool-aid drinking apologists of this new thing called Cub Nation are laughable or worse.
Last time I checked, the Soler trade didn’t help them win anything. And seeing as Davis is no longer part of the team, I’m pretty sure the only direction that deal can continue to go is down.
And the Quintana trade hasn’t been a positive yet either, but that one still has some time left to play out.
Actually, they have a sandwich pick coming to them in this year’s draft for losing Wade after extending a qualifying offer. You never know what may come out of that.
Very well said… Go White Sox
Come on, Aaron, nothing is perfect. Even World Series championships involve luck and overcoming mistakes. The Cubs still have a good shot to win another one the next couple of years.
I predicted that Soler trade was a big win for KC! Soler is a stud while having Davis for a year was a bust for the cubs. That window is closing on the cubs. Mark my words!
Soler just may have an MVP type year some time during his career. Sort of like Carlos Quentin did for the White Sox. The only problem is can he stay off the DL.
And for all you 20/20 hindsight guys, where was Soler going to play on the Cubs with the outfield logjam they had when they traded him?