After the news broke about the Yankees trading away one RHP to the Cincinnati Reds yesterday, Brian Cashman and Co. quickly turned around and signed two others on minor league deals with expected invitations for each to join the club for Spring Training.
The two right-handed pitchers are Danny Farquhar, who most recently pitched for the Chicago White Sox, and David Hale, who most recently pitched for the Hanwha Eagles of the KBO League in South Korea.
Both pitchers have had very short stints with playing in the Yankees organization, for Farquhar, he pitched in 7 games for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders and Trenton Thunder for a combined 17.0 innings back in 2012, before being traded with RHP D.J. Mitchell to the Seattle Mariners for Ichiro Suzuki.
And for David Hale, he has pitched a total 14 games over two stints with the Yankees- with a trip and single game pitched for the Minnesota Twins in-between- and the Railriders, all during the 2018 season, before signing with the Hanwha Eagles for the remainder of the 2018 season.
Wonderful story: Danny Farquhar is signing a minors deal with Yankees. Farquhar has recovered from life threatening brain hemorrhage suffered early last season while with the White Sox. Great response saved him. Now he is ready to go. — Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 21, 2019
#Yankees have indeed signed reliever Danny Farquhar to a minor league deal as @JonHeyman reported. Farquhar incurred brain hemorrhage during game last season for #Whitesox — Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) January 21, 2019
From Tragedy to Triumph:
After a relief appearance during the White Sox game on April 20th, 2018, Danny Farquhar passed-out and collapsed in his team dugout. He was immediately tended to by the team doctors of the White Sox and on-site EMT’s at the stadium, and after regaining consciousness, Farquhar was rushed to the RUSH University Medical Center for testing and treatment. After the game, the White Sox tweeted the following:
Update on Danny Farquhar: pic.twitter.com/DvRSHz9AxZ — Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) April 21, 2018
It was discovered the next day that Danny Farquhar had suffered a brain hemorrhage. Remarkably, it only took 17 days before he was released from the hospital, but Danny was instructed by Neurosurgeon Dr. Demetrius Lopes, to not take the mound again in 2018, as seen in the tweet below:
The Chicago White Sox released the following update today on the condition of White Sox pitcher Danny Farquhar: pic.twitter.com/FFrhsiaI4Z — Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) May 7, 2018
However, less than a month passed before the White Sox gave Farquhar the opportunity to throw a pitch from the mound again in 2018, as they honored him with the first pitch before their June 1st game.
Here is a clip from the White Sox about Danny’s remarkable journey back to the mound, the day after his ceremonial first pitch:
On April 20th, Danny Farquhar suffered a brain hemorrhage from a ruptured aneurysm during a home game. Last night, Danny returned to throw out the first pitch, surrounded by his family, teammates and the medical staff from RUSH University Medical Center. pic.twitter.com/rudWBKBQb2 — Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) June 2, 2018
On the Baseball-Side of Things:
Danny Farquhar in his career has been a solid replacement/shuttle-relief arm, and outside of one bad year in 2015 (-0.6 WAR) he has put up continuous positive WAR seasons- albeit low, and provided he has pitched more than 10 innings at the big-league level.
He has totaled a career 1.0 WAR over the lesser parts of 7 seasons in-and-out of the majors and Triple-A baseball, and has traveled between many organizations during this time, including the: Blue Jays, Athletics, Yankees, Mariners, Rays, and White Sox.
He’s pitched 272.2 innings with a 3.93 ERA, 1.259 WHIP, 3.60 FIP, and 309 K’s to 106 Walks.
It should be expected for Farquhar to start the season with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders, as he first sees action out of the bullpen again, but he could find himself very quickly on the Scranton Shuttle- and back to the majors in 2019.
Heard #Yankees signed David Hale to minor-league deal. Hale pitched on 2 separate stints last season for NYY, as Hale did not allow a run in 10.2 innings. — Max Wildstein (@MaxWildstein) January 22, 2019
The New York #Yankees have signed RHP David Hale to a minor-league contract with an invite to big-league spring training, source says. — Andersen Pickard (@andersenreports) January 22, 2019
Welcome Back Again (…again) David Hale!
David Hale is just about the last pitcher you’d imagine would want to resign with the Yankees, but here we are.
Three times (!) last season, the Yankees acquired David Hale as a free agent pitcher to play in either the Bronx or Scranton.
The first acquisition happened on January 30th, 2018, when the Yankees signed David Hale to a minor league contract to pitch for the “Scranton Shuttle” of relief pitchers, in hopes of making the MLB team as a bullpen depth option.
It didn’t take long for Hale to break in with the major league club- especially because of injuries to bullpen arms Adam Warren, Tommy Khanle, and Luis Cessa- and he was called up on April 22nd.
He would pitch the following day (4/23), going 2 Innings, allowing only 3 hits and 0 walks, to 3 strikeouts and 0 runs allowed against the Minnesota Twins. And, following the game, Hale was DFA’ed to make space on the 40-Man Roster after the Yankees acquired AJ Cole from the Washington Nationals.
He would then go to the Minnesota Twins and pitch a single game for them before becoming a free agent and signing again with the Yankees on May 1st.
Hale would again pitch for the Yankees on May 11th against the Oakland Athletics, going 3 innings, and allowing 4 hits (2 home runs), 2 R (both earned), with 2 strikeouts and 0 walks. A few days after the game- on May 15th– Hale would again be DFA’ed and sent to Scranton.
Hale would rejoin the team for one final stretch, with his final game coming against the Toronto Blue Jays on July 6th, where he single-handedly saved the bullpen after a poor Sonny Gray start (2 innings, 6 Hits, 5 ER) by going an amazing:
5.2 Innings, with 5 Hits, 1 Run (1 ER), and 1 Walk and Strikeout each, over 75 pitches. (Given he didn’t usually pitch 5 innings or go 75 pitches, his game was amazing.)
Hale lasted on the roster for 4 more days after his best performance on the season before electing free agency on July 10th, and signing with the Hanwha Eagles on July 13th.
Today RHP David Hale elected free agency in lieu of accepting an outright assignment. — Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) July 10, 2018
July 6: David Hale saves Yankees’ bullpen, says he hopes he opened some eyes on the coaching staff July 12: Hale signs for $500K with the Hanwha Eagles of the KBO — Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) July 13, 2018
On the Baseball-Side of Things:
Like Danny Farquhar, David Hale in his career has been a solid shuttle-relief arm, and has been about a league average replacement relief arm when all has been said and done.
He has totaled a career 0.6 WAR over the lesser parts of 5 seasons in-and-out of the majors and Triple-A baseball, and has traveled between many organizations during this time, including the: Braves, Rockies, Yankees, Twins, and Yankees again.
He’s pitched 192.1 innings with a 4.49 ERA, 1.466 WHIP, 4.49 FIP, and 128 K’s to 67 Walks.
It should be expected for Hale to also start the season with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders (provided he doesn’t go through another crazy transaction year with the Yankees).
