1:30pm: The Yankees announced the move, adding that Bard has been assigned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
1:12pm: The Yankees have claimed right-hander Luke Bard off waivers from the Rays, reports Lindsey Adler of The Athletic (Twitter link). Tampa Bay designated Bard for assignment earlier in the week. The Yankees opened a spot on the 40-man roster this morning when they outrighted right-hander Carlos Espinal, so there’s a 40-man vacancy for the newly claimed Bard.
Bard, 31, possesses a tidy 1.93 ERA in 14 frames with Tampa Bay this season, though his small sample of work is a good example of how misleading earned run average can be. Bard has fanned only eight of the 56 batters he’s faced (14.3%) and walked seven of them (12.5%) in addition to plunking another pair. He’s been knocked around for a 4.88 ERA in 24 Triple-A innings so far in 2022 and came into the current season with a career 5.05 ERA and 5.32 FIP in 66 big league innings.
That said, Bard has long been able to spin his four-seamer at a higher rate than just about anyone in the game, and that’s again been the case in 2022, when his four-seamer’s spin rate sits in the 99th percentile among big league hurlers, per Statcast. He’s averaging 94.1 mph on the pitch and carries a solid enough 11.8% swinging-strike rate in his career (on all pitches combined). Bard is in his final minor league option year, so he can be sent back and forth between the Bronx and Triple-A Scranton without needing to pass through waivers for the remainder of this year at least.
Get hard for Bard.
3/10
go hard for vax card
Now that’s a whole lotta Bard.
That Yankees loss tonight was a whole lot of yikes. I had the displeasure of watching them blow a 3-1 lead on Amazon prime tv.
Picking up a useful pitcher off the Rays? Next to impossible.
Exactly what I was thinking when I saw who released him. Then again Cashman did resign Shane Greene. He has produced miracles with filler in the past so maybe the stars will align.
That’s Cashman always looking for the next bargain basement player
He’s a good pick up. Rays shouldn’t have let him go imo.
Is this guy related to Daniel Bard?
baseballamore.com/bardl/
Brother
Yes, his younger brother.
Yup younger brother
Yea, his younger brother
Good move, they’ll need a Bard to write ballads of their WS win soon enough.
“I will chronicle your deed in song.” -Pinky, from Pinky and the Brain
Can anyone cite recent examples of the Rays giving up on a pitcher who subsequently turns out to be impactful?
The Dodgers claimed Evan Phillips from the Rays in August of 2021. These are his stats for LA this year in 42 games and 42 IP:
5 wins, 3 losses
1.50 ERA
276 ERA+
2.28 FIP
0.810 WHIP
0.4 HR/9
10.7 K/9
4.55 K/BB
1.2 fWAR – 13th among qualified relievers, tops among Dodger relievers
1.4 bWAR
Looks very good.
baseball-reference.com/players/p/phillev01.shtml
fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=rel&…
Not sure if this counts as “recent” or “giving up”, but I’ll throw out Joe Ryan as an example.
I didn’t realize Daniel Bard was not only still in baseball but having success with the Rockies. Good for him. I kind of assumed he was done for when he couldn’t stick with the Pirates in 16.
Yankees Derek Dietrich suspended 50 games for PED.
They dont seem to turning him into Bonds anyway
From NJ.com:
‘On ESPN Radio on Thursday, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said that while he didn’t want to trade Jordan Montgomery to the Cardinals, he liked how center fielder Harrison Bader would fit New York’s postseason roster better. The message, essentially, was that Montgomery would likely have found himself on the outside looking in at the Yankees’ postseason rotation.
‘“If he thinks that,” Montgomery said Friday, “I don’t care. Obviously, I’m in the talks here. So, I’m excited to be wanted. I’m a Cardinal now. I’ll do my best.”’
msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/cardinals-e2-80-99-jordan…
Based on some of the crap that comes out of Cashman’s mouth, particularly how he speaks of his own players, I think he’s the kind of person I wouldn’t like a whole lot if I knew him personally. I thought it was notable in the documentary “The Captain” that Jeter referred to him as “Cashman,” not using his first name.
I bet Cashman would like to have Monty back now?
I’m sure Bader can fill in as a long man in the playoffs, now that King is out for the season.
Oh, wait . . . he’s in a walking boot and he’s not a pitcher, is he?
Seriously, even if Cashman thought Monty wouldn’t start in the playoffs, he could’ve been invaluable coming on in relief if one of the starting pitchers got chased early.
Hi all Yankee fans. Seeing big news like this I wanted to ask something. I (sadly) am a life long Reds fan. I was wondering what you all thought about not giving up enough to get Castillo especially after his last game against you guys. Am I wrong in thinking Steinbrenner Sr. is turning over in his grave that Castillo is not a Yankee? My memories of Yankees is do whatever it took within reason to get to the WS. I don’t think the Reds were asking for the moon. Just a bit of an overpay and rightfully so to a team with WS aspirations. Anyway again very interested in your opinions. Thanks.
It depends on whether Montas’s troubling 4-MPH drop in velocity continues going forward and he’s lost his effectiveness. Castillo was hitting 97 occasionally in his last pre-trade outing, so his own shoulder problem didn’t appear as worrisome. If I had to guess now, I’d say Cashman blew it and should’ve gotten Castillo instead. Of course I hope I’m wrong and Montas pitches well.
Hicks is now 5 hits out of 66 AB. Hicks needs to be paid by the other ball clubs as he’s killing the Yankees at the plate and in the field. Maybe Cashman will remember Andujar who is batting .296.?
Naw, Cashman doesn’t like Andujar apparently. And he’d have to admit that his contract extension to Hicks was incredibly stupid.
Sure was smart getting rid of Monty though, wasn’t it? I’m glad Gumby stuck it to Cashman tonight after he dissed him in his post-trade comments. Monty looked darn good in Cardinals red.
I will admit, though, that German looked better tonight than I expected — although Busch Stadium is one of the hardest parks to homer in, and that’s usually what kills German: the long ball. But if German can keep pitching as well as he did tonight, it’ll be an unexpected boost to the rotation.
If, after watching Hicks fumble around in the left field and flail at the plate, Cashman doesn’t bring up Andujar or Florial, he’s hurting the team, and the rationale for it is hard to attribute it to logic. Out of 141 qualified players in the last 30 days, Hicks ranks 134th in BA and 128th in OPS.