Which Red Sox relief pitcher you’ve seen had the best stuff?
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Which Red Sox relief pitcher you’ve seen had the best stuff?
Bringing up this one on my own because 1. The rest of New England is out shoveling right now and isn’t in the Sports Q-submitting frame of mind, I figure, and 2. Daniel Bard retired today after struggling for years to find the control that abandoned him after an excellent start to his Red Sox career, and I feel like this should be acknowledged.
Bard was an electrifying set-up man for Jonathan Papelbon from his call-up in 2009 until late in the doomed ’11 season. Bard — who routinely touched 100 miles per hour and threw a breaking ball that defied physics and any sense of fairness to hitters — whiffed 63 in 49.1 innings in ’09.
In 2010 he was even better: 1.93 ERA and 1.004 WHIP in 73 games. 2011 was much the same, at least until September. Bard’s final numbers were fine: 3.33 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, and just 46 hits allowed in 73 innings. But there were alarming signals in the season’s final month that the control problems that plagued him in the low minors were percolating again.
There’s no gentle way of saying it. Bard was as complicit as anyone in the 2011 Red Sox’ historic September collapse. In 11 innings over 11 games, he went 0-4, with a 10.64 ERA and 11 walks to 9 strikeouts.
The conventional wisdom is that his problems started when the Red Sox converted him to a starting pitcher before the ’12 season, and that’s what derailed his career. He had 6.22 ERA in 59 innings that season, then threw just one more major league inning beyond that. But his problems really started — or reemerged — in September 2011. What a lousy month that was.
Bard is going to remember for how his career ended. But it’s worth remembering how it began, too. He was a thrill to watch, and may well have thrown the most unhittable pitch in Red Sox history (non-Pedro division): a reverse slider (or something like that) to Nick Swisher.
At his best, Bard’s stuff was as good as any Red Sox reliever I have seen. Hitters couldn’t lay off Tom Gordon’s electric curveball, and I know you old timers are going to say Dick Radatz. My pick, though, is current closer Craig Kimbrel, who has harnessed his stuff in a way Bard never could.
What do you guys think? Who has the best stuff of any Red Sox reliever you have seen? I’ll see you in the comments.
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