But after the right-hander suffered control issues in Sunday's start against Toronto –– where he walked six batters and plunked two –– general manager Ben Cherington, manager Bobby Valentine and pitching coach Bob McClure thought otherwise.
As a result of a private meeting between the Red Sox brass, the team optioned Bard to Pawtucket and activated Darnell McDonald from the disabled list, putting Bard's conversion from reliever to starter on an indefinite hold.
"I think that what came out of the conversation was that we'll stay with the idea that he's a starter and see how he develops," Valentine said. "There's a lot of building blocks, a lot of good things that have happened here that he can still build on. It seems like it's just around the corner."
From the team's vantage point, the underlying issue with Bard is the mechanical flaws in his delivery. Before his start against Detroit on May 29, Bard worked with McClure in a private side session to address the problem.
During that outing, Bard looked to have corrected the blemishes as he fanned four batters and only walked two, snapping his streak of five straight starts with more free passes than strikeouts.
Then came Sunday. After Bard surrendered five runs in 1 2/3 innings against the Blue Jays, Valentine realized drastic measures were needed.
"He has three little checkpoints [in his delivery], and he's trying to correct them all at the same time, which becomes a little bit of a problem," Valentine said. "He's going to try to simplify things a little.
"We just felt the best thing for the organization and Daniel was to get him in an environment where he can work on that mechanic and not have to worry about the big-league record and his teammates. I think it'll be a quick turnaround."
Through 11 starts, Bard owns a 5.24 ERA and has walked more batters (37) than he's punched out (34). He's yielded 33 runs through 55 innings and has plunked eight batters this season, tied with Chicago's Gavin Floyd for most in the majors.
Those numbers are a far cry from Bard's production as a reliever. In three years out of the Red Sox bullpen, he struck out 213 batters and posted a 2.87 ERA. Those numbers were a byproduct of pitching out of the stretch, as opposed to the wind-up often used by starters.
With that in mind, Valentine believes Bard's struggles are attributed to the transition from the stretch to the wind-up.
"I think that the player has to feel it, and in Daniel's case and in many players' case they want to think it and feel it, and sometimes the thinking part of the feel part gets in the way," Valentine said. "Pitchers like to make everything a little more complicated but it is a feel that we're looking for."
One suggestion –– at least it's Valentine's recommendation –– is to have Bard abandon the wind-up. That could be one of the many changes that Bard may undergo in Triple-A.
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