Should Bard be a Reliever?

Daniel Bard has yet to throw a pitch as a starter this season, but there’s a lot of talk about him being sent back to the bullpen. The sad thing is that this talk is because of the lack of reliability in the bullpen, not because Bard can’t handle it at a starter. As Pete Abraham tweeted yesterday, “Daniel Bard could be the first guy to lose his job as a starter without throwing a pitch.”

Yesterday’s 13-12 loss in 11 innings was ugly, no other way of looking at it. The Sox climbed out of a 4-0 deficit early in the game, and there offense looked like it was starting to come around. This game was not loss because of the offense; I have to stress that. This game was loss because of the bullpen (and some can argue the same thing about Thursday’s 3-2 loss as well). Our bullpen is in shambles, and we’re three games into the season.

First, I have to stress that only 1.8% of the season has gone by; so obviously, there’s plenty of time to right the ship. Lucchino has said he wants to expand the payroll (for a starter or relief help), Miller and Hill are making rehab starts, and Aaron Cook is still waiting in Triple-A. Okay, the positives are out of the way; time to gt on the pitching’s case.

Lester did great job pitching Thursday giving up only one run in 7 innings, so I won’t even address that. There have been a couple bright spots in the bullpen as well- Vincent Padilla was one yesterday. After giving up a run in a third of an inning on Thursday, Padilla went 4 innings yesterday without giving up a run and only 2 hits. Franklin Morales also was impressive coming in relief yesterday. Over 2 innings, he gave up no runs, 1 hit, and had 3 strikeouts.

Every other pitcher on this team has been horrible. In the game yesterday, the Aceves and Melancon each had a blown save! Melancon already has an 0-2 record, and they’ve only played three games! In one total innings pitched, Melancon has a 36.00 ERA, has given up five hits, four runs, and one home run (being the walk-off from yesterday). Aceves has yet to record an out, but he has allowed three runs on four hits. I don’t know how it could be any uglier than that.

Granted, our starting pitching hasn’t helped much over Saturday and Sunday. Josh Beckett only lasted 4.2 innings, giving up 7 runs and 5 home runs. Buchholz didn’t give up any home runs, but still managed to only pitch 4 innings and give up 7 runs on 8 hits. Beckett and Buchholz need to get the spider webs/nerves shaken off; they need to pitch better. Period.

Beckett, Buchholz, Melancon, and Aceves are all supposed to be important parts to not only our pitching staff but to our team as a whole. They’re not those pitchers you can slide in and out of the Major League roster without making a difference. They all need to pitch better, but especially our bullpen. The Red Sox should have won yesterday; there’s no way around it. They had a three-run lead going into the bottom of the 9th when Melancon gave up the 3-run homer to Miguel Cabrera to send the game to extra-innings.

The Sox had a two-run lead in bottom of the 11th when Melancon blew that lead and eventually made the team lost on a walk-off, two-run homer from Alex Avila. Detroit is a good team, probably one of the top three teams in the Majors, so kudos to them. But, the Sox need to play better; they need to pitch better. This brings me back to Bard. When Valentine was asked yesterday after the game “Is Bard an option?” his reply was “Might be.”

I was all for letting Bard be a starter and keeping him there, since it’s a position that takes a bit of getting used to, but I’m not sure how much more the Sox can take with these relievers. Valentine may be right in saying that Bard might be the only option the Sox have left. Bard needs to stop the bleeding, either as a reliever or as a starter (by pitching a complete game shut-out, if that’s the way it needs to be).

The Red Sox management needs to make some decisions. They need pitching help, and they need it now. Either make a trade (Lannan wants out of Washington), move some players (Cook moved up as a starter, Bard to bullpen), or create an injury to make a pitcher have a time-out (preferably Melancon, since I’m thinking his nerves are getting in the way). Something needs to be done, and it needs to be done now. The Sox starter 2-10 last year; let’s not have a repeat.