Brandon McCarthy cleared to resume 'normal baseball activities'

After two months recovery from emergency brain surgery, free agent right-hander Brandon McCarthy has been cleared to resume all "normal baseball activities", reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle:

After 20 hours of rigorous testing, @bmccarthy32 has been cleared to resume all his normal baseball activities. #Athletics

— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) November 14, 2012

Slusser adds that the concussion specialist McCarthy saw for his tests declared the right-hander is "back to where he was last spring training" in terms of cognitive function and ability.

McCarthy, 29, suffered an epidural hematoma in early September after taking a line drive from Angels shortstop Erick Aybar off the back of his head. McCarthy appeared fine immediately following the incident but had to undergo emergency surgery later that evening to stop the brain bleed.

Now recovered, McCarthy should be one of the more coveted names on the free agent pitching market. The right-hander owns a 3.29 ERA, 1.6 BB/9 and 6.3 K/9 in just over two hundred eighty innings his last two seasons. The Athletics appear to be the favorites to re-sign the tall right-hander at the moment, but anything can happen.