Daniel Bard: Starter or Closer? Red Sox Must Choose

There was a time about one year ago when the Boston Red Sox were rumored to have been in talks to possibly acquire outfielder Justin Upton from the Arizona Diamondbacks. That deal never materialized.

There were a number of reasons for that. One was that the Diamondbacks never seemed totally serious about dealing Upton, who was in the minds of many a future MVP candidate.

The other reason was that among the players that would have needed to be included in any sort of deal for Upton were Jacoby Ellsbury and Daniel Bard. The Red Sox were hesitant to part with either player. Ellsbury was thought of as a future All-Star (correctly I might add), and Bard was thought of as a future closer. 

The Boston Red Sox will be hiring a manager in the very near future. One of the first things that manager will have to do is get together with general manager Ben Cherington and make a decision about the role Daniel Bard will play on the 2012 Boston Red Sox.

With Jonathan Papelbon having departed for Philadelphia, the role of closer out of the Boston bullpen is officially open. The Red Sox have not been turning down trade offers for Daniel Bard for the past few seasons with the intent of merely making him their setup man have they?

One way or another, Daniel Bard needs a role on the 2012 team beyond that of setup man. If Bard is that valuable and that talented, then the time has come for the Red Sox to show confidence in him. He doesn't have to be the closer though. 

This year's free agent pool features far more talent at the closer position than among starting pitchers. The Red Sox have two openings in the rotation with both Daisuke Matsuzaka and John Lackey out for much or all of the upcoming 2012 season.

Boston could certainly choose to pursue free agents such as CJ Wilson or Mark Buehrle, but they may very well have to overpay to acquire those players.

The other option would be to invest in one of the closers on the market such as Ryan Madson or Heath Bell, and then move Daniel Bard to the starting rotation. There is, of course, risk in any and all of these scenarios.

What is clear, however, is that the Red Sox must make a commitment to Daniel Bard. He's been one of the top prospects in the organization for a number of years, and to continually utilize him as only a setup man will only result in cutting into the number of years he has as a member of the Red Sox while under an affordable contract.

Even though Bard isn't going to become a free agent until the conclusion of the 2016 season, he is arbitration-eligible following 2012. Could the Red Sox be stashing Bard as a closer in an effort to minimize his inevitable raise through arbitration next year?

That would seem like the type of contractual conspiracy theory that only the most cynical of Red Sox fans would buy into. Nonetheless, if we are to believe that Daniel Bard has as bright a future in a Red Sox uniform as we've been told the past few years, then the time has come to allow Bard to play a more pivotal role on the Boston Red Sox.

There are roster openings in various spots, and Bard could prove to be a very good option to fill one of them. Start or close—either could work, but it's high time the Red Sox made a decision.