Bard back to the pen, according to report.

[Lucky]

Rotoworld cites a BoSox staff member who says the Bard as starter experiment is over, and that he will go back to the pen. Color me not surprised.

[BuckyBuckner]

Funny, I was just thinking about this and looked at mlbdepthcharts to see if they still had him as a starter.

How long before he is the closer?

[Skrappy1]

Stupid move on Boston's part. 12 IP or whatever is not sufficient to reach a conclusion about the Bard-as-starter experiment. Their 4 and 5 starters are going to be garbage. Who are they going to throw out there now? A struggling Vicente Padilla? A crappy Aaron Cook?

I think I read Aceves and Felix Doubront.

[Grinch]

Their 4 and 5 starters are going to be garbage. Who are they going to throw out there now? A struggling Vicente Padilla? A crappy Aaron Cook?

I think I read Aceves and Felix Doubront.

same thing.......

One significant injury to Beckett, Lester or Buchholz and they will fall to 4th.

[virgonomic]

I have Bard, and I just bumped Doubront up on my reserve draft list. I got Slowey today.

[pjs24]

I think this is the right move. I didn't see success for Bard as a starter. I really like Doubront as a cheap, AL-only play, too.

[TopChuckie]

Should have let Bard be the closer all along and kept Reddick in the OF. Sometimes the best moves are the ones you don't make.

[Moonlight J]

Man, that's awful for fantasy purposes

[Pauly]

Aceves has been very good this spring, which may or may not amount to a hill of beans.

[joncarlos]

Bard was an awful starter in the minors, and presumably Cherington and Valentine were informed about that, so it could be the Sawx weren't as committed to this as we thought. You can probably get a fairly accurate SCOUTING read on a player in 12 innings, and if your scouts tell you it's hopeless then you have to listen, even if it's not a valid sample for statistical purposes.

[pjs24]

If you're going to give a guy an audition, especially one with Bard's rare skills, it should be more than 12 IP. Stupid.

Ya, I'm not basing it solely on ST innings, in fact, not at all on ST innings. I just didn't think he had the skills to make it as an SP.

[Skrappy1]

Aceves has been very good this spring, which may or may not amount to a hill of beans.

Aceves is actually a very solid pitcher. He's been decent in some spot starts over the years, it remains to be seen if he can hold up as a starter over the long-haul (he's had some back issues which is why the Yankees non-tendered him a couple of years ago), but he's at least as likely to have success as a starter as Bard IMO.

[Bob Kohm]

Bobby V presiding over a fiasco? No, I don't believe it.

[Hornsby]

Actually, I think that this is a good decision...with Meloncon in the 7th, Bard back in the set-up role, and Bailey as closer, that's a hell of a nice 'pen. $th and 5th starters are not hard to come by come July, and the Sox will make a move, if need be. The starters can let it all hang out for six innings and go take a shower with a pretty good degree of certainty that they'll get the win if they leave with the lead.

[DJBeasties]

He can't start with only throwing a fastball and a slider. Valentine wants him to throw his change more as a starter. Someone told me in his outing yesterday, he threw one changeup. Cant see the pitch/fx data so I'm not sure on that but I guess I'm not surprised.