Red Sox Report: Boston Doing A Joba On Bard?
Monday, March 26, 2012
The New York Yankees ruined the career of pitcher Joba Chamberlin by messing with something that worked. Are the Boston Red Sox about to do the same with Daniel Bard?
This may be the biggest question coming out of spring training, with all due respect to Jose Iglesias and his efforts to become the team’s starting shortstop.
Like Chamberlin was at the start of his Yankee career, Bard was pretty much a dominant reliever serving the Red Sox well in the role of set-up man for closer Jonathan Papelbon. While Bard had his moments where he failed to hold a lead, they were few and far between.
Despite that success, the Red Sox organization, in its infinite wisdom, decided to convert him into a starting pitcher this spring. At least, that was the idea.
Bard has struggled mightily this spring to the point where his spot in the rotation is being openly questioned by his manager Bobby Valentine.
Sunday he made another Grapefruit League start and gave up 5 runs in 6 innings of work against the Toronto Blue Jays. Ironically, Valentine thought it was one of his best outings of the spring because he used a variety of pitches instead of relying solely on his plus fastball. “I liked how he was responding to things,” said Valentine. “ I thought it was a really good look today. He worked runners when they were on base. He got ground balls when he needed to. He got some swings and misses when he needed to, too. I just like what I see. That's good stuff.”
It would appear by those words, that Valentine is counting on Bard to start the season in the Red Sox rotation. However, his status as a member of the starting rotation for the long term appears to be anything but solid.
Hopefully, Bard will succeed as a starting pitcher making this story much ado about nothing. If he doesn’t succeed, we may very well be looking at the next Joba Chamberlin.
Chamberlin was a dominant set-up man for Mariano Rivera before the Yankees had the brilliant idea of making him a starter. He was wildly inconsistent and, quite simply, not very good at all in that role. When they tried to move him back to the bullpen, he was terrible there as well.
Granted, Chamberlin has had some health issues that he has had to deal with in the past couple of years and he may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer. Still, the similarities to his situation and that of Bard’s are startling.
Let’s hope that Bard’s situation has a much happier ending.
NOTES:
-Speaking of Chamberlin, he was released from the hospital three days after severely injuring his right ankle while jumping on a trampoline with his son. Chamberlin suffered a compound fracture along with a dislocation of the ankle and will be in a cast for about 6 weeks. Yankees’ manager Joe Girardi said that he was optimistic that Chamberlin will pitch again this year while others aren’t so optimistic.
-Red Sox reliever Bobby Jenks was arrested earlier in the week for driving under the influence of drugs in Fort Myers. Sunday he issued the following statement:
“I am embarrassed by the situation and apologize to my teammates and to the Red Sox organization for any distractions I may have caused. I still need to let the legal process run its course and until it does, I will not be able to make any further comment,” he said.
-Kevin Youkilis didn’t make the trip to Dunedin for Sunday’s Grapefruit League game against the Toronto Blue Jays. Youkilis stayed back in Fort Myers due to back stiffness.
-Alfredo Aceves had a terrible outing Saturday against the Phillies giving up 10 hits, 9 runs and 3 homeruns in just 3 innings of work. That outing has to give Valentine a knot in his stomach as he tries to figure out what the backend of his rotation will look like. We’re just a week and a half away from opening day.
-The good news is that while Aceves and the Red Sox were getting shelled by the Phillies, Felix Doubront and the rest of the team were playing well in a win over the Miami Marlins. Doubront went 6 innings against the Marlins giving up 5 hits and only 1 run. He walked one and struck out 2. Doubront, Aceves, Bard and Aaron Cook figure to be the four guys competing for the final two spots in the rotation.
-Valentine still won’t commit to who his starting shortstop will be on opening day. It’s a two-horse race between Mike Aviles and Jose Iglesias. Valentine praised both players over the weekend saying that Aviles’ defense has improved as the spring has moved on while the hitting of Iglesias has gotten better. Spoken like a true politician.
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