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Daniel Bard on retirement
By adamg on Fri, 01/05/2018 - 10:42am
The once dominant Sox reliever talks to SB Nation about his decision to finally give up the dream of returning to major-league baseball after a disastrous outing in a minor, really minor-league game last July.
Over the Monster recalls his greatness before Ben Cherington and, of course, Bobby Valentine, ruined him by trying to turn him into a starter.
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Comments
I felt really bad for this
I felt really bad for this guy. He was the heir apparent to Papelbon as the next dominant closer for the Red Sox. Worst case of the yips I've ever seen.
False
Nobody "ruined" Bard. No idea what happened to him, but his troubles started the year before they tried him as a SP. He was having a monster year in '11...until September (which coincided with the Sox collapse).
After not giving up a run in 25ip in June/July and striking out 24, he came back to earth in Aug, giving up 4 ER in 11 IP (3.27 era), but it was Sept/Oct that he "lost" whatever he had. During that time, he pitched 11 innings, giving up 11 hits, 13 ER, and walking 9 batters. Absolutely brutal. That trend continued in '12 as a SP, but clearly something happened in '11 (injury, loss of trust in his stuff) that ruined him.