The White Sox provided a big-time update on Danny Farquhar Monday afternoon that answered the big remaining questions for the near future:
- He was released from the hospital, 17 days after being admitted for a brain hemorrhage from an aneurysm.
- He won't pitch again in 2018.
- Farquhar's neurosurgeon expects him to be able to pitch again in the future.
The full text is here. It's great to see pitching move up his list of concerns when it was the least just a couple of weeks ago. This all could've been so much worse.
Spare Parts
My White Sox week in review for The Athletic starts with the White Sox' inability to even so much as split a series with anybody besides the Kansas City Royals. In case you were wondering, if the Sox finish what they've started and only win series against KC, they'll finish with a record of 51-111.
Lucas Giolito was a curveball-dependent pitcher who realized that the pitch didn't work in the same way at the MLB level, so he developed a slider to use as a breaking pitch with more control. Reynaldo Lopez took notice and is doing the same.
I'm going to quibble with Don Cooper's rebuild timeline, though:
https://twitter.com/laurencomitor/status/993614487088455681
I understand where he's coming from when it comes to letting Giolito, Lopez and Carson Fulmer learn at their own pace. But revising the start date of the rebuild is also a little self-serving, and I don't think his calendar is going to be the one universally adopted.
I liked Scot Gregor's anecdotal lede for his Yolmer Sanchez story:
"Every day is a new day," he said. "I wake up every day and say thanks to God for giving me the opportunity to feel happy, to have a beautiful family, a beautiful son, a beautiful wife, my mom and my dad.
"I just say thanks for everything I have and I come here and have fun."
A few minutes later, Sanchez located a football helmet in the clubhouse. He strapped it on and started ramming trash cans and luggage.
Jeff Passan's weekly column is all about the starters who refuse to let bullpenning take what they've rightfully earned.
Grant Brisbee's weekly column is about ... other things.
Two things I like about this GIF:
- The third-base coach temporarily forgetting himself and forgetting to tell Yangervis Solarte to touch third base, which is one of his only jobs as a third-base coach.
- Jose Ramirez motioning with his glove, like, “Hey, quick, quick, throw it to me, he might be dead.”
The third thing I like about this GIF is that it was a bad slide.
Friend of the Podcast Dan Szymborski is buying what Yoan Moncada is doing, even if the contact issues aren't normally associated with long-term success:
Yes, Moncada strikes out a lot, and while there will likely be some bit of improvement long term, he's going to always be a player who whiffs frequently. But what makes me unconcerned about this issue is that he swings hard and is swinging at the pitches he's supposed to be swinging at.
