Right-hander Luke Bard has agreed to a deal with the Rays, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). The team hasn’t announced the move, but Bard is in the clubhouse and has a locker set up. Rays broadcaster Neil Solondz adds that it’s a minor league contract for Bard, a client of ISE Baseball.
Bard, 31, is a former supplemental first-round pick (No. 42 by the Twins in 2012) who made his big league debut with the Angels back in 2018. He spent parts of the 2018-20 seasons in the Majors with the Halos, pitching to a combined 5.05 ERA with a 21.8% strikeout rate, a 6.5% walk rate and a 33.3% ground-ball rate in 46 appearances. Three of those were technically “starts,” though Bard served as an opener in each.
The younger brother of Rockies righty Daniel Bard, Luke was with the Angels again for the 2021 season but did not pitch either in the big leagues or in the minors. The younger Bard brother was slowed last spring by a hip injury that eventually required surgery and an eight-month recovery period.
Bard hasn’t had much success in the Majors, and his three Triple-A seasons have produced a 5.04 ERA that’s a near-identical match with his big league ERA. That said, he’s a fairly unsurprising Rays target all the same. Bard possesses off-the-chart spin rates on his four-seamer and, to a slightly lesser extent, on his slider. He led the Majors in four-seam spin rate during the 2019 season, but that didn’t translate to a gaudy swinging-strike rate or overall strikeout rate. The Rays surely have their own ideas on how to get the most out of Bard, who can be controlled through at least the 2025 season if he makes the roster and enjoys a late-blooming breakout.
here come the “Rays will make this guy an all-star by midseason” people……..
Day after rosters can go to 28 for a month, the Rays sign an arm to a minor league deal. Fodder.
Rays will make this guy an all-star by midseason…
—People
Lol
—The ghost of Mr Lol
I hear what he’s saying though.
I know they have handed our asses to us the last couple years. & I realize that brings a lot of joy to a lot of MLB fans. I am not insensitive to all that.
But what – for real – have they actually *done*? Not win a championship ever? Play in front of no one? Saved/made money? Ya know?
They are a great Little Engine That Could story (greatest book of all time). But I think the general perception of them has skewed unrealistically the other way. Not all of their moves work out. If they were held to the same standard as the Yanks (no championship = failure) they wouldn’t be lauded so heavily.
Or whatever.
They can’t be held to the same standard with a payroll 1/4 of the size. And they haven’t been around since 1903, they were made in 1998 and really not even relevant until 2008. Whether people go or not they have fans just like every other franchise, sorry the fans that exist can’t just create more fans out of thin air but still plenty of people who are die hard about the rays like myself. I’d rather be competitive year in and year out and giving ourselves a shot to win a championship rather than win one and then suck for years after because we trashed our franchise to do it. If you truly stop and think about it like the championship only feels good for about 3-4 months and then nobody cares because it all starts over. We go to playoff games and we get adrenaline rushes just like everyone else. And no not all of their moves work out but it’s about 90% of them and that destroys about every other team. They are the smartest and best run team in baseball and for that everyone should cheer for them unless you’re upset because the “little engine” is destroying the massive locomotive
Yankees fans love to gloat about 27 championships but really how many have most been alive for and even at that.. how many have they attended. It’s the silliest argument I’ve ever heard
I don’t, @kc38.
Now, I have had the good fortune to see two dynasty’s, a spare title, & some extra AL pennants. All those other titles mean squat to me. & I don’t care for the ” 27 rings, beyotches” stuff myself. Reeks of desperation.
& every point you are making is valid – one way or another. My only points were: they are far from infallible & they are not held to all that onerous of a standard.
I am not attacking your ballclub, their history, or their fans. Rather, I am merely pointing out that – though a truly great story – they haven’t really done anything. That’s just being objective, man.
Yup. And best of all, when the pixie dust wears off (as it will inevitably do), they have a built-in excuse.
Still, they’re the best run operation on the field, even if they’ve utterly destroyed the market. The operation is a sucess, but the patient dies. And no, if they drop PNC or OPACY in the middle of Tampa. it won’t make much difference. The owner knows it, and he realizes his team is one of the few where payroll savings go directly into his pocket, and his only real source of income.
Concur.
& when it does, the Yanks’ll still be winning & playing meaningful games every September.
No doubts they have a fantastic system in place. Takes a lot of roster churn & being “right” a lot to maintain though.
While I do agree with a lot of your points from both of you… the “pixie dust” thing I just don’t agree with. Yes it takes more work doing it the rays way but in my opinion it’s more sustainable than the Yankees carrying around millions of dead weight and trying to shed it with prospects or just clogging up roster spots
@kc38, I’ve been around for 7 world championships and 11 AL pennants. You know you’re the fan of an exceptional team when they haven’t won a World Series in the last 12 years and fans of other teams try to use that as a negative, not realizing they’re actually pointing out how good the Yankees are. My father was well into his 50s when I was born so he experienced the first 20 Yankee championships. He was born in the Bronx and used to go to the Stadium and watch Ruth and Gehrig. RIP Dad. So, yeah, in my family the 27, the Yankees and baseball have a lot of meaning. Sorry to disappoint! (BTW As you’ll notice here, it’s often people like you who first bring up 27 championships. I doubt I’ve even mentioned it once on these boards until this post. But, yeah, if you try use it as a negative with Yankee fans, you’re about to experience a Mike Tyson uppercut that will drop you on your butt.)
In the sense of winning games with little money, yes. In the sense of running a successful business, heck no. The lack of a fan base and the steady stream of competitive balance money regardless of how they play makes their job considerably easier.
They were literally in the World Series two years ago and are in better shape than the Yankees who won’t be winning anything for a long time.
@seamaholic, I actually believe the Rays have built a successful business. They make money, the value of the franchise has grown, they win games. Fans of all teams admire how well they are run on so little, but the money they run on is heavily subsidized by the big market teams. What they haven’t done is grow their fanbase or grow the game of MLB in Tampa. That’s a failure for MLB.
Why should any team be held to the same standard as the Yankees.? A team that bought practically every championship they have ever had.
This whole championship or bust mantra was a Georgie Porgie publicity stunt.
Rays fans should be proud of team that is run well, finding low cost players that perform above their expectations.
Rob, everybody (every team) makes money; every team’s franchise value has grown. And much of those things has to do with MLB. which is how Manfred keeps his job. And with gaming and streaming, there’s more to come.
And to be fair, you can’t blame the current ownership for everything. The previous owner was a twit (to be kind) who knew enough to hire some really good baseball people (Chuck LaMar, Gery Hunsicker, et al), but then proceeded to totally ignore them. He ignored what Ted Turner had learned in Atlanta: “hire great people and stay the f@@k out of their way”.
The market is toast, the only solution being to move the current team somewhere, and perhaps use it as an expansion possibility. They’ll need a well-healed owner, willing to build a new park, and maybe an RSN. It’s not impossible, but it won’t be easy, either.
@kc38 –
First, I want to tip my cap to you for actually having a conversation with us. Typically, Ray’s fans foster an abject “hatred” of the Yankees – & by extension – us. Furthermore: I completely understand why that is.
I interpreted “pixie dust” to mean the role they are currently on. A lot has gone right for them. They’ve weathered storms to the raiding of their FO, found hidden gems all over MLB, have revolutionized several aspects of the game, & screwed the hell outta the Pirates. I don’t think it’s outlandish to state that their good fortune probably isn’t a Forever Deal, however.
That’s just baseball, man.
& you certainly raise the economics of the situation. Which is valid. However: the Yanks have a much bigger safety net & that will certainly manifest itself over a longer sample size than a couple seasons.
If you’re measuring “fanbase” off of game attendance, that’s different. The Rays have huge viewership in the region measuring somewhere in the middle of the MLB pack.
When they stop doing it is when people will stop saying it…
The thing that people miss about the Rays is how well they use their pitchers, NOT how good their pitchers are. Three of their top 4 in innings had ERA over 5.00! They understand that you lose 62 games, you’re a really good team. The trick is using the right pitchers WHEN YOU LOSE as much as it is using the right pitchers when you win. Don’t waste innings of good pitchers when you lose! And you will NEVER have all good pitchers. That’s the “secret”.
Sub 2 ERA with 70 plus innings is my prediction. If he was still on the Halos? Over 5 ERA, DFA’d by June. Rays seem to work their magic on pitchers.
Perfect example of Hunter Strickland last year. Dominant then sent to angels then DFA’d then dominant with the crafty brewers again. LAA is a joke of a franchise top to bottom. And just proves how worthless managers really are
If this had happened a few days ago it would have been A Winter’s Tale.
Maybe they will bring him up from AAA in July, which would be A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
And when he records the last out of the World Series it will be All’s Well That Ends Well.
Most likely, this is all Much Ado About Nothing.
I see you are responding Measure for Measure.
5.32 FIP and 5.05 ERA. But none of that matters because of the high spin rate? Analytics gone crazy.
And crazily enough… it works
I’m sure they’ve watched video on him from the last year or two and think with a couple tweaks, they can get the best out of that spin rate. I haven’t watched him pitch, certainly not enough to know what’s wrong, but it could be consistency in his delivery / release point, pitch selection, dropping down on his release, not using his hips efficiently, or any of a dozen other things. If any team can fix him, it’s the Rays.
Looks like a double-A all-star.
And the 2022 AL Cy Young Award Winner is
– Luke Bard.
Did you know the Bard boys are, fittingly, Shakespeare buffs? They have a debate about whether Hamlet is a middle infielder. “2B or not 2B…”
A base remark.
Get thee to a punnery.
All the Rays need to do now is sign Michael Cleric, Rick Knight, and Paul Wizard and they’ll have a full party.
Gotta love a good d&d joke.
Top 5 Destinations for a stuggleing pitcher to sign to.
1. Rays
2. Indians
3. Brewers
4. Cardinals
5. Giants
6. Mariners
Pretty accurate list.
Rays are planning to take full advantage of 28 man rosters thru May 2nd and the 5 option rule all year. They thrive off of manipulating the system and will continue to do so. This is just another arm to utilize, whether he’s good or not.
The Rays are like that MLB the show Franchise where the AI is stupid, and your able to find amazing loopholes.