Daniel Bard

Speaking for the first time since the end of the 2011 season, Red Sox pitcher Daniel Bard appeared on “The Bradford Files” podcast with Rob Bradford (click here to listen) to touch on a variety of subjects, including the transformation he is making in regards to becoming a starting pitcher.

“I think it would be a great personal challenge,” Bard said of starting. “I think it’s something that I truly believe I can do. I think I’d be lying to you if I said I didn’t want it. Either one’s technically a promotion for me, if you want to look at it that way. And I don’t think anyone’s not looking to get promoted within their job. Like I said, either one I’m more than happy to do. And if it means going back to doing the the role I’ve been doing, that may happen, too, which is fine.

“I wanted to let them know, I tried to make it as clear I could to Ben [Cherington] and Bobby [Valentine], that I had no reservations about going into the rotation and I was 100 percent willing and ready to take on that challenge. I didn’t want Ben to be worried about my mindset going into it. I had to make that very clear, I think, just so they wouldn’t hesitate.”

Following are more highlights from the conversation.

On how the offseason has unfolded: “It’s been weird. It’s almost like I’m watching the whole thing happen as an outsider’s point of view. I’ll hear things and then talk to somebody and then hear something totally different. But pretty much the way it went was, within probably two weeks after the season ended, I spoke to Ben, and I think it was pretty shortly after he had gotten the job, maybe right after. For whatever reason, I was pretty confident we were going to re-sign [Jonathan Papelbon]. As good a year as he had, I kind of thought he maybe wanted to come back. That’s the vibe I kind of got from him, actually. I gave it at least a 50-50 chance that he was going to come back and I’d be pitching probably in the same role as I have been.

“So, I told Ben when I heard that [John] Lackey was having surgery and [Tim Wakefield]‘s a free agent that I saw two openings in the starting rotation. For the last two years, I hadn’t said it much, but in my own head, just watching the guys in this league that had a lot of success in a starting role, I just felt like I could do that. I’ve got as good or better raw stuff than them. I try to keep myself in good shape. I felt like everything I had pointed to that I could have success in that role.

“So, I told Ben that, and then when Pap signed with the Phillies, it wasn’t maybe a week or two after that, I kind of figured that whole starter thing would kind of subside and they may forget it even happened. I just figured once Pap was gone they wouldn’t be taking me out of the ‘pen as well. But it turns out they feel pretty strongly about me trying to become a starter, and I do, too. And as of right now, that’s how it stays.”

On the decision to make him a starter: “Obviously, they look at it and say, now that Pap’s gone, what are our options at closer? And I was probably part of that discussion as well as free agents and [Alfredo] Aceves and whoever else you want to throw in there. But I think that they had kind of in their minds said, hey, we’re going to make Bard a starter, and we’re going to stick with it. … A lot of things are subject to change, but as of now I’m going in preparing to start this year.”

On if he currently views himself as a starter: “Yeah, I think I have to. I feel like it would be really easy for me to go back to [closing]. To me, in my mind, there’s not a huge difference between the role I was pitching in and closing. You’re not asking me to anything a while lot different in that. When it comes to starting, it is a different mindset. Just for me, it’s not something I’ve done in a while. But I’ve said in the past, I see myself as a pitcher and I’m not going to drastically alter the way I throw or the way I pitch or anything. There’ll be a few things that need to change maybe a little bit just in my preparation. But I just think it’s a lot easier to go and become a starter and if we have to go back to the bullpen then make that move rather than vice versa.”

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