Daniel Bard

With a pitching staff that has already given up double digits in runs in two of its first four games this season, the Red Sox turn to Daniel Bard for his first major league start as he takes on the Blue Jays’ Kyle Drabek Tuesday night in Toronto.

Now entering his fourth MLB season, Bard has appeared in 192 games. But entering the 2012 season, Bard, once thought by many to be Boston’s closer of the future, was moved to the rotation, with Tuesday marking his first career start in the majors.

Primarily used as the team’s set-up man for closer Jonathan Papelbon last season, Bard had a productive 2011. In 70 appearances out of the bullpen, Bard had a 2-9 record with 34 holds, a 3.33 ERA and 74 strikeouts to go along with 24 walks. His ERA last season did rise from the 1.93 mark that he posted in 2010, but he did have fewer blown saves (seven in 2010, five last season), fewer walks (30 in 2010) and more holds (32 in 2010).

With a new role on the team in 2012, Bard struggled throughout much of spring training as a starter. In six appearances, five of which were starts, Bard went 2-2 with a 6.57 ERA with 18 strikeouts and 16 walks in 24 2/3 innings pitched.

In the 2011 season, Bard faced the Blue Jays more than any other team (tied with the Yankees) with nine total appearances. But in those appearances, however, Bard had trouble against Toronto, with a 0-2 record and a 7.71 ERA in 9 1/3 innings pitched, along with no saves in two save opportunities. Among teams that he pitched more than three innings against, Bard had a higher ERA against the Blue Jays than any other MLB team.

Bard has previously faced 10 Blue Jays players in his career. None have more than nine plate appearances against him. Seven of those 10 players have not gotten a hit off of Bard, and only third baseman Edwin Encarnacion has more than one hit off of Bard. In five career at-bats against Bard, Encarnacion has two hits, both of which were singles.

At 24 years old, Drabek is part of a young Blue Jays rotation under the guidance of Toronto manager John Farrell, who spent five seasons with the Red Sox as the team’s pitching coach. Unlike Bard, Drabek has much more experience as a starter despite just entering his third season in the majors.

After making only three appearances as a late-season call-up in 2010, Drabek became more of a fixture in the Blue Jays’ rotation last season, making 14 starts and 18 appearances. In those games, however, Drabek was entirely underwhelming as he went 4-5 with a 6.06 ERA, 55 walks and 51 strikeouts in 78 2/3 innings.

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Brandon Morrow's conversion from the bullpen to rotation offers an interesting blueprint for Daniel Bard. (AP)

FORT MYERS, Fla. — This offseason, Daniel Bard noted that he felt some kinship with Blue Jays starter Brandon Morrow, a pitcher whom the Jays moved from the bullpen to the rotation in 2010. Yet if that is the case, then it is also worth noting that Morrow’s move to the rotation was not without its hitches.

Indeed, one can still describe the right-hander’s conversion as something of a work in progress. That, in turn, is noteworthy given the implications for Bard.

Both Morrow and Bard were first rounders in the 2006 draft, with Morrow going to the Mariners with the No. 5 overall pick and Bard falling to the Red Sox at No. 28 (though Bard once noted that the Mariners had considered him for the pick they used on Morrow). Both are hard-throwing right-handers who have struck out more than a batter an inning in their careers and who broke into the majors as relievers.  Read the rest of this entry »

Curt Young, the Red Sox pitching coach in 2011, returned to Oakland after one year in Boston. (AP)

The Red Sox thought they had the right successor to John Farrell. The team acknowledged that it would be difficult to replace the man who led their pitching staff from 2007-10 once he became the manager of the Blue Jays, but in Curt Young, the team identified someone who had shaped the Athletics into an elite pitching factory, guiding Oakland through significant turnover to a 4.01 ERA (best in the AL) over his seven-year tenure from 2004-10.

And so, the Sox hired Young away from Oakland, signing him to a two-year deal that included a team option. But after just one year, in which the Sox pitching staff had a 4.20 ERA (ninth among 14 AL teams) and in which the on-field and off-field performances of the team’s pitchers were both viewed as significant elements in the team’s collapse, it came as little surprise to see Young move on. Read the rest of this entry »

Terry Francona joined The Big Show on Wednesday for his first interview since the day of his departure from the Red Sox. (AP)

Former Red Sox manager Terry Francona, in his first interview since the day of his departure from the Sox organization after eight years, talked on The Big Show about his final season with the Sox, his suggestion that he had felt some decrease in ownership support, the controversy surrounding starters drinking in the clubhouse on their off-days and more.

It was a broad-ranging conversation at a time when Francona has had plenty to process. He described the days since Friday’s announcement that he wouldn’t be back as Sox manager as a “whirlwind, I guess. Probably a lot of swirling emotions. You can imagine. A lot’s happened in eight years. A lot’s happened in a week. I tried to sit back a little bit, look at everything, gain some perspective — that’s not the easiest thing to do, but I always try to look at myself, think, ‘All right, what could I have done better?’ It’s probably not the easiest time to do that, but I’m trying to do the best I can.”

To listen to the interview, click here.

Among the topics:

– Francona tried to clarify his comments about the Red Sox owners, insisting that he appreciated a commitment to the team that he described as “second to none” in the majors, and said that his comment about being “all-in” was in reference to himself rather than that owners who did not make a public commitment to him.

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Red Sox manager Terry Francona gave Commissioner Bud Selig something to consider Saturday.

Maybe MLB was listening in when Terry Francona made some frank and honest suggestions about how baseball should consider re-structuring its playoff format starting in 2012.

“I hope they add about six,” Francona said in partially tongue-in-cheek fashion of adding MLB teams to the playoff pool.

Then he struck a more serious tone.

“I like the idea of having another wild card. I think it’s intriguing because it’s drawing more fans in and having more teams maybe think they have a legit chance, which is good.”

Then the blinds came down in the Fenway Park media room. A mesage from MLB perhaps?

“I thought that was me, I thought I was going down,” cracked Francona. “Wow, I thought I was going to say goodbye to you guys.”

But then Francona collected himself and continued to entertain the topic.

“I think the way the divisions are set up though is not fair,” Francona said. “I think you have to get more balance in what you’re doing. The question about sense of accomplishment, in ’04 we won 98 games. The only team that won more than us was the Yankees. We didn’t back in anywhere, and they were in our division. If they weren’t in our division, we would’ve probably won 102. If you’re going to start giving that much importance to a division winner and less to the wild card, I think there needs to be more balance. Look at our division right now, you’ve got four teams over .500.”

Would he be cool with 15 teams in each league and a possible interleague match-up in the final weekend of the season, perhaps in an NL park where an AL team would be without a DH?

“I’d be cooler if there was a designated hitter,” Francona said. “There’s decisions that need to be made by people that are smarter than me, hopefully. It’s never going to be perfect but I think there’s probably ways they can figure out to make it really good and a little more fair.” Read the rest of this entry »

It was supposed to be the continuation of a nice homecoming for John Farrell. Instead, he saw his former ace tear apart his new lineup batter by batter on Saturday afternoon at Fenway Park.

After his spectacular start six days ago against the Yankees, Josh Beckett picked right up where he left off against the Jays, throwing a strong seven innings and striking out nine batters. Beckett’s three-hit, one-run performance had his former pitching coach singing his praises after the game.

“He was difficult to get anything started against,” Farrell said after Saturday’s game. “We’re all in the same division, we’re all competing every time we walk on the field, and to his credit he pitched a very good game.”

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According to this piece by Richard Griffin in the Toronto Star, the Blue Jays’ roundabout acquisition of one-time Sox prospect Cesar Cabral can be explained by a handshake agreement between Theo Epstein and Toronto general manager Alex Anthopoulos when the Blue Jays were interviewing for their managerial position.

With Anthopoulos seeking permission to speak to John Farrell (the eventual hire), DeMarlo Hale and Tim Bogar, Epstein gave his blessing on the condition that Anthopoulous not go after Boston players in the Rule 5 draft.

This is why, Griffen writes, when the Blue Jays wanted to get their hands on Cabral, a left-handed pitcher, they had to wait for the Rays to take him in the Rule 5 draft, and then put in a waiver claim him upon Tampa Bay waiving him. Cabral was returned to the Rays less than 48 hours later.