[Rdsxmbnt]

Quote

BOSTON -- It appears the Daniel Bard Era is about to begin.

The Red Sox have not made an official announcement, but Bard is expected to be at Fenway Park Sunday night for the series finale against the Rays.

...

The Red Sox will not only have to take someone off the 25-man roster in Boston to make room for Bard, but they'll also have to make a move to put Bard on the 40-man roster.

http://www.projo.com/redsox/content/projo_...d.10e5f5b9.html

Thoughts as to what the corresponding roster moves might be?

[SoxScout]

	G	IP		ERA	RA	WHIP		FIP	xERA	ERC		BABIP	LOB%		BR/9	H/9	HR/9		K/9	BB/9	K/BB
Daniel Bard	11	16.0		1.13	1.13	0.69		2.33	0.85	0.95		.199	109%		6.8	3.4	1.1		16.3	2.8	5.8

No clue about the 40-man... Lowrie, Kotsay or Smoltz to the 60-day DL? Denker or Lopez gone?

[Paradigm]

Hunter Jones demoted and someone else bumped from the 40-man? We'll find out, but that's my best guess. Javier Lopez done?

This post has been edited by Paradigm: 10 May 2009 - 11:01 AM

[Mystic Merlin]

This is surprising to me, mostly because I figured the Sox would handle him a lot more cautiously. I assumed his relatively recent struggles in 2007 would prompt the team to closely monitor and manage his confidence level and responses to high-stress innings or situations; i.e., that they'd give him at least another few months to demonstrate his prospective dependability at the ML level, especially, given the tremendous success of the bullpen thus far. There was no real rush, beyond replacing Lopez's ulcer-inducing low-leverage innings. The numbers and scouting reports apparently don't lie, though.

Obviously, the call-up clears up any uncertainty on the part of the front office regarding Bard's major league readiness; Theo and Co. must think his slider has adequately progressed in terms of command and consistency to warrant this move. I don't mean to make an obvious point, but - to me - the move is encouraging for this very reason.

[ypioca]

I hope it's Lopez who gets the boot. And I'm sure Tito has no confidence left in him either, by the way he's been using him lately.

Anyway, it's about time.

[keving18]

YaYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!

Oooh, I hope he pitches tonight.

Wait a minute. Check that. If he pitches tonight, that means the Sox need bullpen help. Forget it. I hope he doesn't pitch tonight.

[Yaz4Ever]

I'm also surprised that Bard is up as quickly as he is, but I'll echo the sentiment in hoping that Lopez is the odd man out. In all seriousness, could Bard do any worse? The worst thing that could happen, imho, is that Bard struggles and it affects his confidence. A setback like that would be a shame. If Lopez isn't sent packing, does Tito play him in the OF again to send a message to the FO?

[Laser Show]

Mystic Merlin, on May 10 2009, 12:02 PM, said:

This is surprising to me, mostly because I figured the Sox would handle him a lot more cautiously. I assumed his relatively recent struggles in 2007 would prompt the team to closely monitor and manage his confidence level and responses to high-stress innings or situations; i.e., that they'd give him at least another few months to demonstrate his prospective dependability at the ML level, especially, given the tremendous success of the bullpen thus far. There was no real rush, beyond replacing Lopez's ulcer-inducing low-leverage innings. The numbers and scouting reports apparently don't lie, though.

Obviously, the call-up clears up any uncertainty on the part of the front office regarding Bard's major league readiness; Theo and Co. must think his slider has adequately progressed in terms of command and consistency to warrant this move. I don't mean to make an obvious point, but - to me - the move is encouraging for this very reason.

I agree, this is very surprising to me. After seeing what happened to Meredith and Hansen mentally, combined with Bard's very recent minor league struggles, it's a shock to me that he's being called up so soon. It's not like our bullpen is looking like the Cubs' at the moment. Perhaps the FO has decided Jones is decent enough from the left side, making Lopez expendable, giving them room for Bard.

My first thought is that this is probably a short stay, a la Michael Bowden two weeks ago. But I wouldn't be surprised to see him stay much longer.

[thisyearisthe]

I could see Tito bringing in Bard to pitch the seventh tonight. Beckett's pitch counts have been unreasonably high.

One more power arm in the pen to go with MDC, Ramon Ramirez and Pap? Can't hurt!

[Rough Carrigan]

keving18, on May 10 2009, 12:08 PM, said:

YaYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!

Oooh, I hope he pitches tonight.

Wait a minute. Check that. If he pitches tonight, that means the Sox need bullpen help. Forget it. I hope he doesn't pitch tonight.

Nah, they could be winning in a rout and Tito lets the kid get his feet wet in a low pressure situation up by 10.

[HighHeat]

Wasn't it determined that most, if not all of his struggles were related to the Sox tinkering with his mechanics?

It seems to me that once they "let him go" and he reverted to his old mechanics, he once again became the pitcher they thought they were drafting out of college.

He dominated ML hitters this spring and he continued that dominance with outstanding peripherals at Pawtucket (albeit over a small sample). I think that especially in the wake of what happened with Cla Meredith that Theo is absolutely convinced that Bard can handle the jump right now. That's good enough for me.

I'm excited; it can't hurt to have another live arm that misses bats in our pen. He'll find his role.

[czar]

It's nice to hope that Lopez is the odd man out, but (echoing Paradigm) wouldn't a mere Hunter Jones demotion make infinitely more sense?

[Bowlerman9]

czar, on May 10 2009, 12:27 PM, said:

It's nice to hope that Lopez is the odd man out, but (echoing Paradigm) wouldn't a mere Hunter Jones demotion make infinitely more sense?

Jones demoted and Smoltz to the 60 makes the most sense.

[MoGator71]

This is sort of confusing. Sure, on the face of it they could be DFA'ing Lopez, which I could live with. But what's the follow-up when Matsuzaka comes off the DL? My guess is it's Bard up, Jones down, Lowrie to the 60. Then when Dice-K returns Lopez DFA, Masterson back to the pen. Do we care about Okajima being the only lefty?

I can't see them making a short term move here. The Meredith and Hansen callups have been discussed to death, but in both those cases the bullpen was in the shit and they needed the arms (Hansen's callup in particular). The bullpen is in a better place now by far; no sense dicking around with Bard here. I assume he's here to stay.

[OCD SS]

Bowlerman9, on May 10 2009, 12:28 PM, said:

Jones demoted and Smoltz to the 60 makes the most sense.

<br /><br />This makes the most sense because it doesn't cost the Sox any talent (even if the term needs to be used loosely).

This post has been edited by OCD SS: 10 May 2009 - 11:38 AM

[TomRicardo]

Bowlerman9, on May 10 2009, 12:28 PM, said:

Jones demoted and Smoltz to the 60 makes the most sense.

They could outright Lopez. I have a hard time seeing any team pick up Lopez off of waivers.

[67WasBest]

TomRicardo, on May 10 2009, 12:13 PM, said:

They could outright Lopez. I have a hard time seeing any team pick up Lopez off of waivers.

I remember the same being said about Romero. He went on to win another ring.

This post has been edited by 67WasBest: 10 May 2009 - 12:24 PM

[koufax32]

TomRicardo, on May 10 2009, 01:13 PM, said:

They could outright Lopez. I have a hard time seeing any team pick up Lopez off of waivers.

Sadly you may be right. Would he accept though?

It's not the team's M.O. to simply let someone go. I think that letting Lopez go would make the most sense talent-wise. IMO it's the least likely when the control issue comes into he discussion.

Good for Daniel Bard. To think he would be here today compared to where he was a while ago...wow. Here's to hoping he takes the city by storm and has a millitant cult following by August.

[Ananti]

Romero had a good fake ERA. Lopez doesn't.

[Shelterdog]

HighHeat, on May 10 2009, 12:18 PM, said:

Wasn't it determined that most, if not all of his struggles were related to the Sox tinkering with his mechanics?

It seems to me that once they "let him go" and he reverted to his old mechanics, he once again became the pitcher they thought they were drafting out of college.

He dominated ML hitters this spring and he continued that dominance with outstanding peripherals at Pawtucket (albeit over a small sample). I think that especially in the wake of what happened with Cla Meredith that Theo is absolutely convinced that Bard can handle the jump right now. That's good enough for me.

I'm excited; it can't hurt to have another live arm that misses bats in our pen. He'll find his role.

His minor league record is a bit better then we're giving him credit for; he was a crappy starter in his first year in the minors (07), got converted to a reliever, and has been dynamite ever since. He now has 73 games as a reliever under his belt including good fall ball in '07, a terrific 08 played mostly at AA, and an unreal start to 09, with a sub two era at every level. If I recall it correclty, Cla only had a month or two of AA experience, and hadn't touched AAA, when he was brought up.