When he was last seen on a major league mound – one inning in 2013 – Bard had Blass Disease bad. His last full season in MLB was 2012 when he hit eight batsmen and more than six walks per nine innings in 59 1/3 innings. It was a horror show – a 27-year-old who’d had three successful seasons pitching in the mid- and late innings suddenly could not throw the ball anywhere near home plate. Bard made 19 minor league appearances in 2013 (15 ⅔ innings) of disastrous, no-good, awful ball: three hit batsmen, 36 walks, and 18 earned runs allowed.
