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He's having thumb surgery. Huge blow to an already thin Red Sox bullpen (No Papelbon, Bard to rotation, etc)

MT@MikeSilvermanBB: Worst case, Bailey back in early Sept, according to timetable. Best case, early Aug. Replacement unknown.

Don't like to cheer when people get hurt....but (small) yay"!

Their problem isn't really the bullpen, it's the pitching staff as a whole. Bard as a starter is a pretty serious question mark; he was absolutely atrocious in that role (like, ERA over 7.00 in 150 IP) as a minor leaguer, and hasn't started for nearly five years as a result. While I'm generally a fan of giving talented pitchers as much room to maneuver as a starter before consigning them to one-third the innings pitched as a reliever, the contrast with Bard is so staggering that starting him doesn't look wise...it's hard not to come away thinking that there's something going haywire with his mechanics in longer outings, and his high walk rate in the spring can't really be putting minds to ease.

Combine him with Felix Doubront, who is definitely talented but hardly proven, Josh Beckett's year-to-year inconsistency, the 'pen, and their somewhat limited wiggle room in adding salary, and they might struggle to get people out. But then again, they won 90 games last year despite getting 250+ innings from Lackey, Miller and Matsuzaka that made Jo-Jo look like Pedro, so who the **** knows.

I really don't understand the Bard thing. If they wanted him as a starter, why has he spent the last 3 years being Paps heir and then when they lose Paps they also shift Bard to the rotation? I assume it's the difference between Epstein and Cheshire cat or whatever his name is, but IMO by the time he took over Bard's path was committed and logical.

That being said they've got enough arms back there, the 'pen should be okay.

The whole situation there is so volatile though, I have no idea what to expect out of BOS this year. Hard to think too poorly of a team that rolls their top 6 out every day though.

With Pineda going down, hot damn! Go Jays!

I don't understand the Bard move either.

It just goes to show how volatile a pitching staff can be. This time last year many were proclaiming the Red Sox starting 5 as one of the best of all time.

Lateral Quicks wrote:I don't understand the Bard move either.

This time last year many were proclaiming the Red Sox starting 5 as one of the best of all time.

pretty sure it was the lineup not the pitching staff that they were talking about

Al_Oliver wrote:

Lateral Quicks wrote:I don't understand the Bard move either.

This time last year many were proclaiming the Red Sox starting 5 as one of the best of all time.

pretty sure it was the lineup not the pitching staff that they were talking about

No they were saying that no team could compete with the Red Sox #2 through #5 starters. Other teams had aces as good as Lester, but that Beckett-Bucholz-Lackey-Dice K were untouchable. Of course Beckett missed tons of time, Bucholz and Dice K missed pretty much the whole year, and Lackey had one of the worst season by a starter in the history of the entire league.

The success of relievers turned back to starters like CJ WIlson and to a lesser extent Brandon Morrow might have something to do with it.

But maybe more so the asking price of pitching these days have driven ball clubs to give it a shot.