Former pitcher Kyle Farnsworth hasn't exactly been in the spotlight for a while. He played in the Mexican League after his MLB career came to an end in 2014, tried semi-pro football for the Orlando Phantoms for a few years and was on Corey Patterson's coaching staff for the Sunbelt League's Brookhaven Bucks back in 2017.
On Monday, though, he briefly returned to the spotlight after a controversial thought of his went viral on Twitter.
It's a somewhat polarizing take in the first place, but it becomes especially controversial when several prominent members of the MLB community noticed that "general soreness" was the reason the Baltimore Orioles decided to give first baseman Trey Mancini a day off on Monday. Mancini was hit on the foot on Sunday, plays for the 43-93 Orioles and, most notably, missed the entire 2020 season after a malignant tumor was removed from his colon. He then underwent chemotherapy to treat his cancer.
It's understandable, then, that there might be outrage directed toward Farnsworth for such a critical take of Mancini (if it did happen to be about Mancini). That's someone whose remarkable road back to MLB stardom was extremely unlikely and should never, ever be faulted if a day off is the healthiest, safest way for him to operate. As it turns out, outrage is exactly what the predominant response was.
Starting pitcher Marcus Stroman also chimed in without directly mentioning Farnsworth, though he did respond to many of the comments in the thread (as seen above). Here's what Stroman had to say, later adding that Farnsworth was a "miserable clown" who has "zero influence on society":
My man @TreyMancini is a living legend. A true role model to the youth who has battled an incredible amount of adversity. Past players with poo-poo careers/opinions need to keep it down. He's a cancer survivor who beat the odds and is a blessing to society. Keep inspiring Trey!
Following the massive backlash from the baseball community, Farnsworth sent out another tweet on Tuesday morning, saying that his tweet was not directed toward Mancini and that he still finds it to be true when referring to other players.
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