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I agree, which means they are going to have some serious decision making to do come early June. The 30-day clock for a pitcher's rehab stint is now clicking for Matsuzaka, so they'll need to make a decision by that time. When Matsuzaka returns, someone will need to be either sent down or to the BP. Bard is stretched out to start now. If he stays in the BP at this time, they risk injury and/or time without him to try and stretch him out later in the year for more starting in the second half. This is why it makes no sense to do that now. I say this while recognizing that his need in the BP is greatest right now, with Bailey returning after the all-star break and Hill returning in the near future. They are kind of between a rock and a hard place. If they trash the idea of him starting this year, they need to restart the process all over next year, with the same limitation on innings cap. I don't think this is a good course of action if the overall goal is to turn him into a starting pitcher they can turn loose for 32 starts a year. I think they should see what happens with Doubront/Bard/Buchholz over their next handful of starts and make a decision from there. I think the best course of action is to let the top 2 stay in the rotation, send the low man on the totem pole down to Pawtucket to continue starting and work on any lingering performance issues (looking at you Buchholz, right now), and then bring that person back to the rotation when Bard hits his limit as a starting pitcher, moving Bard into the BP to finish the year.

What is the problem with him being engaged in a discussion about where his career path is headed? This happens every day in the corporate world, and people who shut their mouth and do what they are told tend to experience less career growth. It's not a problem that he cares about his future or that he wants to talk about it. It's only a problem if he gets belligerent and his performance fades when he's at odds with his bosses over his role. That hasn't happened yet.

The pitch count in the article is referring to his outing last night. It will build up from there.

So? It's pretty evident that ownership/management isn't all-in on this year's roster. How else could they have accepted so many question marks going into the year, several significant ones that have blown up into issues in the first two weeks, plus other unanticipated injuries? If they are unlikely to make the moves necessary to give it a good run this year, why waste time developing Bard into a starter, especially since he's shown some potential to be a good one, just to plug a hole on a roster that they don't appear to have much faith in. It's terribly short-sighted to ask for the immediate gratification, particularly when moving Bard into the closer's role does nothing to address the 6th/7th/8th innings you are talking about.

I think his career 4.50 NL West ERA translates into 5+ in the AL East. Bring him up, but let him pitch in the BP. He's not worth canceling the Bard as a starter project which has shown some positive early returns.

First rehab start tonight in Salem. Rough outing giving up 2 HR to A ball hitters, but he pitched 4 frames on 57 pitches / 40 strikes, with no walks, which is encouraging.

#8 tonight.....on fuggin' fire. Doubleheader today, and he walked twice too.

Ciriaco is right where he should be, in AAA. There's a couple of career minor leaguers who have a nice spring every year throuhout the league. What matters is the overall body of work, and for Ciriaco, it's not that good.

Lavarnway heating up. HRs the last two nights. Tick tock, Salty, tick tock.

Bobby V looks like a buffoon because of all the stupid s*** he keeps saying to the media. He has no filter between his brain and mouth. If he thinks it, he says it......then he has to say something else to fix it. His authority is limited to how he runs the team, and does not extend into him having carte blanche with his opinions in the court of public opinion. Pedroia's response in no way challenged BV's legitimate authority, he didn't say what he said in response to a rule established by BV. He responded to a public comment. I like that he said what he said. He showed some leadership sticking up for a teammate, and he was right, IMO, in that concerns over commitment to the team should be handled internally, not in the media. The hubbub over Valentine's comment is that he went public with this opinion, and when Pedroia said that's not how we do things here, that's what he's talking about.

The concerning thing about the Yankee series is that our pitchers most prone to wildness will be facing the team that has a lot of patience, and because of them being "The Yankees!" seems to get the smallest strike zone when they are at the plate. It might be agonizing to watch.

I'm in Nashville from Wed-Fri for our company's PM conference.

I just don't understand why it was Bowden that was DFA'd and not Justin Thomas? Neither are world beaters, but with Bowden there's at least a glimmer of potential, albeit small.

The Mets still aren't in a happy place financially, how much do you think they'd be willing to pay? He's due $16M this year and next, plus there's a $17M option with a $3M buyout for 2014. Bay might, or might not depending on how legit his statistical decline is, be useful to the Sox with Ellsbury out, but when they are all healthy, he's a kind of an expensive luxury.

Not enough. He also has to listen to ten minutes of consecutive John Sterling home run calls.

Is Rip van Winkle (BtR) aware that tomorrow is the early Patriots Day game? Jobu likes his mojo, and we want to keep the train rolling.

Not only that, but isn't NYYF the biggest fan forum on the interwebs for Yankee fans? If it's the most popular it stands to reason it is representative, like it or not.

I can now escape the bonds of my mortality with good conscience, for I know another song has been added to YouTube. Thanks for that.

WMB hit #2 last night, #3 today (with his first walk!), line at .359/.375/.641.

PitchFx was created and is maintained by a contractor for MLB. PitchFx is high speed cameras that record the data for each pitch thrown. It is accurate to less than one mph in velocity measurements, and less than one inch for location. Spin is determined how much the trajectory varies from a no-spin projectile via physics, at least I think it is. Brooks just mines the data from MLB, and puts it in a nice table/graph form for us all to enjoy.

ARoss?