Though I suppose there’s something newsworthy about the Yankees jumping all over Jose Contreras and a brutally bad White Sox bullpen, it’s interesting to note the level of vitriol reserved for reliever Kyle Farnsworth. The Post’s Joel Sherman describes the pitcher as “the one player the Yankees absolutely, positively had to rid themselves of,” while colleague Michael Morrissey explains, “for obvious reasons, nobody wanted the erratic, overpaid, ill-tempered reliever to come over to their team.”
Booed by a sellout Yankee Stadium crowd of 53,958 when he entered, Farnsworth was used as a $5.25 million mop-up man with his club ahead 14-3. With nothing at stake, he tossed his first perfect inning since July 5 after eight straight appearances in which he allowed a walk or a hit. He retired the side on eight pitches (six strikes) to lower his bloated ERA to 4.46.
When The Post made its run at Farnsworth before the game, he responded with, “I’ve got nothing to say.” He also said no to reporters after the blowout.
Farnsworth was connected in trade talk with Detroit a few days ago, but interest obviously cooled.
Small wonder; major-league scouts and front-office people see what the Yankees do.
Sunday, Farnsworth allowed two runs in an inning during a 10-6 victory over Baltimore. More disturbingly, he walked away from Jorge Posada when the catcher went out to talk to the scattershot righty after a cross-up. A similar snub happened at least once last year.
Although the 31-year-old can’t be used effectively for more than one inning or on back-to-back days because of chronic back woes, he complained about usage Sunday, saying, “I didn’t come here to sit on the bench.”