Last time he took the mound, Daniel Bard walked six Blue Jays and hit two Blue Jays. He faced 13 Blue Jays. This was out of the ordinary for Bard, but only by a little; over 55 innings, he's hit eight batters and walked 37 batters while striking out 34 batters. The ratios are all terrible, so perhaps this news is unsurprising:
Red Sox Demote Daniel Bard To Minors
Daniel Bard to AAA. #RedSox
— Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) June 5, 2012
Bard was one of three high-profile bullpen-to-rotation conversions this season. For the White Sox, Chris Sale has been outstanding. For the Rangers, Neftali Feliz has gotten hurt. For the Red Sox, Bard has been miserable, throwing less than 60 percent of his pitches for strikes. He's been wild, his velocity has been way down, and his results have been poor.
So Bard’s off to a lower-pressure environment. We can’t say for sure that he’ll never cut it as a starter, but right now he’s not big-league starter material, and it’s worth noting that he was also ugly in his rotation work in the minors. He’s been highly successful as a reliever, and that may very well be his long-term role. That’s a lot more likely than it was a couple months ago.
It was worth it for the Red Sox to try Bard as a starter. This is also the right move to make. The Red Sox would very much like to make the playoffs, and out of the rotation, Daniel Bard wasn’t helping them get there.
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