Farnsworth suspended, has appealed
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Apr 19, 2008 
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This release from Major League Baseball:
Pitcher Kyle Farnsworth of the New York Yankees has been suspended for three games and fined an undisclosed amount for intentionally throwing a pitch at Manny Ramirez of the Boston Red Sox during the top of the seventh inning of the Thursday, April 17th game between the Clubs at Yankee Stadium.
Bob Watson, Vice President of On-Field Operations for Major League Baseball, made the announcement. Farnsworth’s suspension had been scheduled to begin tonight, when New York plays at Baltimore’s Camden Yards. However, he has elected to file an appeal. Thus, the discipline issued to him will be held in abeyance until the process is complete.
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This is the third time Farnsworth has been suspended in the last six seasons. He served two games in 2003 for his role in a brawl and five games in 2005 for another brawl. MLB likely took that into account in this case.
GO FARNSY !
This is an absolute joke.
Watson sucks. Double standard.
Pete, being someone in a profession where freedom of speech is so important, you should be appalled at this. This would be like you being fired or suspended for something your newspaper THOUGHT you wanted to write, but you didn’t. Mind reading. Kyle Farnsworth has no control when he pitches, and he never has. He can miss the plate by five feet on any given pitch. He could have very well been trying to pitch Manny up and in and had one of his 5 feet misses (they happen often).
And then, you sit back and say nothing when Manny Ramirez ENDORSES what Farnsworth did, and gets no suspension. Manny Ramirez just told MLB that it’s perfectly OK to do it, to throw inside, and to possibly hit people in the head.
This suspension doesn’t make sense. If the Umps thought it was intentional, he would have been ejected, like Joba was last season.
David:
I assume you’re joking, If not … I’m not sure what to say. You and I both know what Farnsworth was doing. If you think it’s cool to throw a fastball at somebody’s head because that player had the nerve to hit two home runs, than that is your business.
MLB obviously feels differently. Bob Watson has been in the game for decades and works for the commissioner and the owners. It would seem they would prefer that the players not try and kill each other.
Now the Yanks won’t be able to pitch inside at all to Manny without risking a suspension. And everyone will complain that Manny is killing them. Of course he is if he doesn’t have to worry about pitchers coming inside at all!
As for this instance, clearly Farnsworth was trying to go inside, and maybe even trying to hit Manny, but I don’t get it that anytime a pitch goes awry it means he was trying to hit him.
Chris: Pitching inside usually doesn’t mean a few inches behind somebody’s head.
Tell you what, watch the game tonight and chart how many pitches accidentally go behind somebody’s head.
This is a win-win situation.
At least 2 of those games, Farnsworth wouldn’t be used anyway and gives the team a chance to see others. It also make Watson look like he’s targeting a particular team and in the process make Boston wonder if they should take a chance at pitching a Yankee too close.
While I certainly do not condone purposely throwing at somebody’s head, I don’t feel Farnsworth should be suspended. Firstly, I don’t think it was intentional. Secondly, as CT states, if the umpiring thought for a second it was intentional, Farnsworth would have immediately been ejected.
The Yankees can never win when it comes to suspensions. If they are the first to make a statement by hitting another player they get suspended.
If they act in retaliation for one of their own getting hit prior, they get suspended (Clemens 2007 vs. Rios).
If they buzz by somebody, in what could be considered a retaliation scenario before the benches are warned and without even hitting them they get suspended (Joba 2007 vs. Youkilis).
And now this…no benches warned, no contact, and two days later he gets suspended. It is bullcrap. Farnsworth has the worst control in our bullpen and I seriously do not think it was on purpose.
When does Daniel Cabrera begin serving his suspension ? He plunked Matsui twice last night. How about Mussina ? he plunked Ellsbury twice, can we suspend him for the remainder of the season ?
“They’re playing a baseball game, this isn’t war. You don’t endanger somebody’s health because Mike Mussina can’t hit the outside corner and gave up two home runs. Have a little perspective.”
thank you peter for pointing out that his was all mike mussina’s fault. he’s the one who should be suspended for forcing another teammate have to do his dirty work because he refuses to go up and in or hit deserving batters.
that said, farnsworth should never throw in the vicinity of a hitter’s head ,front or back, because he has no command up there or anywhere else. if he was going to defend mussina’s honor the appropriate place would have been in manny’s rear end or leg. it still would have been painful ,but in accord with the unwritten rules of baseball.
no one would have been upset. there would be no suspension. i’m going to go against the grain here and say the suspension was deserved. in a way it will cause the red sox to reassess their plan to retaliate in kind in july.
i don’t care about normal retaliation from the red sox. i just don’t want to see a psycho beckett ending the career of arod or someone else. they should hit a yankee in a nice safe painful spot, and that’ll be that.
the red sox haven’t forgotten the two pitches that joba sailed late last year over youkillis’ head last year either. that didn’t bother me because joba has command and youkillis would have had to jump a foot in the air to get hit.
The only thing that will get my goat about this suspension is if he reduces it.
If Watson is so sure of his ruling, and really believes he is trying to clean things up, then stick with the 3 games.
If after the appeal is heard, he reduces it by a game or two, what’s he really saying? He would be overruling himself.
I just want some clarity to his rulings.
Dice-K drills Arod after the ESPN cameras show Tavarez telling him to do so, no fine or suspension.
Pedro’s nonsense with Soriano and Jeter 4 years ago? No fine or suspension.
There were on hitters that were actually hit with pitches.
This is the second Yankee in two years to be suspended for not hitting a Red Sox hitter with a pitch.
Some consistency and clarity in his rulings would make it much more palatable to understand what he is trying to do.
Its not trying to keep hitters from getting hurt. If it was, then he would be suspending guys for actually drilling players.
As I said in the other thread, Farnsworth is certainly no angel.
However, all this ruling does is give a lunatic like Farnsworth an open shot at hitting Red Sox hitters. In his mind, he’s probably thinking, “If I’m getting 3 games, I might as well hit the guy”.
Not exactly what you want a lunatic like Farnsworth to be thinking.
Watson should have just told him, “You do it again, you are out 5 games”. That would have a much better effect than this ruling.
All he accomplished today is fueling Farns’ behavior, not stopping it.
Pete, you’re so sure Farnsy was intentionally throwing at Manny’s head. Was Aardsma intentionally throwing at Arod?
yes, SJ. to emphasize your point further: “This is the second Yankee in two years to be suspended for NOT hitting a Red Sox hitter with a pitch.” how many sawx pitchers have been suspended for actually hitting a Yankee batter?
guess who leads MLB in HBP the last 10 years: those scrappy underdogs from up north.
Pete, how do you know that for sure? I can’t understand it. I’m not denying he was trying to pitch him VERY up and in. Very meaning maybe hit him in the shoulder if it sailed a little. There is no way you can convince me without a doubt that Kyle Farnsworth was trying to hit Manny Ramirez in the head. If Manny isn’t screaming about it “Why is this guy trying to hit me in the head??” I would think he doesn’t know for sure, and that’s good enough for me. Manny and the umpire had the best view of the pitch and were in the game. You weren’t. Sorry, it’s not a knock to you, but you’re not the player who had the pitch coming at him. Everyone literaly screams when Farnsworth goes out there and has no idea where his pitches are going to go, but then when he tries to go up and in and it goes a little too much up and a little too much in, everyone is shocked at the lack of control all of a sudden.
And that doesn’t answer my question of why Manny isn’t being suspended. If Watson doesn’t want players getting hit then why is it OK for Manny to endorse what Farnsworth did?
Hey Pete respond to this!
Aardsma (w/e) actually HIT ARod and it was pretty clear that was on purpose. Go back and watch that video, then watch where Farnsworth threw at Manny. MAYBE, MAYBE 3 inches difference. Where was the outrage over ARod, Pete? Sox fan in you coming out a bit?
http://www.mlb.com/media/video.....4172543669
no one hates the red sox more than me. no one thinks more they aren’t just bad baseball players, they are bad people. they have played the pseudo macho card ever since varitek went after arod with his mask on . he was lucky there were other people there to intervene. arod would have annihilated him . bronson arroyo, pedro and, beckett have all taken their shots. i do remember pedro sending two yankees to the hospital with no consequences. watson was wrong looking the other way then, but he’s not wrong on going after farnsworth.
it’s just too dangerous to have a goon like farnsworth going up in the face area intentionally . baseball is a dangerous game that looks relatively safe if kept from going off the rails. headhunting takes the game to a place where the game breaks down.
Manny knew to stand there and not approach the mound. He knew well that Farnsworth would spin kick him and put a backhanded karate chop to his neck.
No seriously. There was no hit batter. Why are we talking about this and why is there a suspension? It was a close call, but this isn’t horsehoes or grenades.
We need Eric “Otter” Stratton to represent the Yankees on this one.
Seriously Pete, I think you are missing why so many of us are outraged. I am not implying that Farsy’s pitch wasn’t intentional, or that he shouldn’t be punished. However, I am saying that these punishments should be consistent across all teams, and they are clearly not. I’m guessing here, but it looks like Bob Watson is trying too hard to prove that he won’t favor his old team.
so if Farnsy gets 3 for MISSING Manny, does Beckett get 5 for HITTING A-Rod??
Yeah farnsy threw at him, but he didnt hit him
does anyone remember that arod was hit the day before after hitting a homerun? this is total crap. baseball is a joke.
if you yankee fans dont understand the difference between beaning someone in the back, and trying to go up at someones head, than perhaps you need to start following a different sport.
Meanwhile my read always is that they always give you more games than you end up with. So maybe Farnsy gets one or two games out of this.
Next time Beckett or Taveras or any of their guys hits one of ours, I want them suspended as well. Be consistent, MLB. Pedro Martinez put both Jeter and Soriano in the hospital to open up a game, and he had no action taken against him (at least, not to my knowledge).
Pete:
I am not sure why you are so amped up on this issue. If Farnsy is an absolute jerk to you and your fellow beat writers and you don’t feel like he deserves any leniency then that is fine, just let us know. You have consistently killed him in your posts (which is your prerogative – it is your forum)
Everyone who has watched the Yanks has had a problem with Farnsy b/c of his performance (or lack of) and also throwing Torre under the bus. He has been a total waste of money and another bad call by Cashman.
This incident seems to have gotten under your skin. What gives?
Peter,
Feel you. So sad that a lot of the blog readers are lacking perspectives. The blog is full of those knuckleheads that CANNOT conduct any intelligent baseball conversation. Best luck to you and your coverage of New York Yankees.
Love all of this “upper crust” baseball analysis:
“I say, did you see that ? That ruffian threw up and inside at the old chap Ramirez… rather unsportsmanlike, wouldn’t you say ?”
“I can’t abide this untolerable level of brutish behavior, please contact our dear friend Watson and ask him to suspend this uncivilized lout of a relief pitcher”
Intimidation is a part of baseball, always has been, always will be. If you don’t like it, go watch golf.
If I remember correctly last August, Joba threw at Youkilis’ head twice, got thrown out, and DIDN’T get suspended… so how does this make sense?
Putting aside the issue of intent etc. for the moment, (and the fact that, for any number of reasons, if Kyle Farnsworth were given his unconditional release tomorrow I’d be just fine with that), I’d be real interested in getting a look at a list from the last, say, 5-10 years, detailing all MLB suspensions.
I’d also like the opportunity to learn all the circumstances surrounding these incidents.
I’m not a conspiracy theorist…by nature. And I have always been of the belief that in addition to being generally the best team in baseball from ’94-’03, that the Yankees were also the beneficiaries of any number of on-field calls going their way over the years. More so, in fact, than any other team in the league.
That said, I’d bet a dollar that the Yankees have been disproportionately punished by the league office as compared to any other team in baseball. I’m pretty sure the examples of this theory would be supported by the evidence.
I don’t recall Bob Watson leaving the Bronx on bad terms. And I’ve always held the man in the highest regard. I am, however, convinced that something rotten is and has been going on on Park Avenue for some time now.
Get on it Abraham.
Nevermind my last comment, I forgot he was suspended.
Farnsworth is the man! To the Sox “we’ll be back.”
You guys here DO realize, don’t you, that Farnsworth is this year’s Yankee Designated Thug, don’t you? Remember Worcester’s Own Tanyon Sturtze, aka WOTS? He was the Yankee Thug a few years back (and applauded by Yankee fans for every hit). He quietly took his punishment in the penalty box for the team every time they needed a stooge.
Speaking of Yankee threats, the AP obit of the late lamented John Marzano shows a picture of #21 in a stranglehold by Marzano when O’Neill started out to the Mariners mound to pound on 130 lb. Tim Davis. The poor little guy accidentally hit O’Neill with a pitch.
What goes around comes around, I guess.
usually with you on these things pete, but you’re way off this time. do yourself a favor and read an SJ44 post.