TORONTO — Rockies right-handed reliever Daniel Bard needs surgery on his right flexor tendon, and his season is over before it started.
Manager Bud Black announced the news Friday before the Rockies’ game vs. the Blue Jays. Bard, who turns 39 in June, was already on the 15-day injured list after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in February. Now he will be placed on the 60-day IL.
Black said Bard experienced pain in his right elbow while pitching during extended spring in Arizona.
“This was a situation where last year the elbow was tender,” Black said. “Daniel spent the offseason rehabbing, hopefully, to where he is in his career that he could strengthen it, get rested and maybe come back. … But the elbow just hasn’t responded.”
Bard underwent three PRP (platelet-rich plasma) injections after last season in the hopes of avoiding surgery. Colorado was hopeful that Bard might return to be a solid closer this season.
Bard is in the second season of a two-year, $19 million contract extension he signed with the Rockies in late July 2022. The extension not only avoided free agency at the end of that season but also removed Bard from the trade market as the trade deadline approached.
General manager Bill Schmidt said at the time that there were “legit playoff teams” interested in a trade for Bard but that the Rockies wanted to hang on to the right-hander.
“He’s a good fit for us, he’s had success and he’s not afraid of pitching here,” Schmidt said then, adding that Bard deserved to be an All-Star. “Not everybody is suited to pitching in this ballpark, but he’s done it well for the last year and a half. We had to make a decision, and so did he.”
In hindsight, that deal was a bad investment for the Rockies, who have struggled to find an effective closer over the last two seasons.
Bard had a stellar 2022 season, notching 34 saves and posting a 1.79 ERA over 60 1/3 innings, prompting the extension.
But the 2023 season did not go well. Bard’s previous anxiety and control problems resurfaced after he pitched wildly in the World Baseball Classic, leading to him starting the season on the 15-day injured list. He walked 21.1% of the batters he faced, his ERA ballooned to 4.56 and his 1.70 WHIP was the second-highest of his career. He was placed on the 15-day IL again on Sept. 3-18 with right forearm fatigue and then went back on the IL on Sept. 27 with a right flexor strain.
Bard made a remarkable comeback with the Rockies in 2020 after being out of the majors for more than seven years. He battled anxiety issues that derailed his career but decided to give baseball another try. He tried out for a number of teams at a showcase before spring training and received an invitation to big-league camp from Colorado. He finished the 2020 pandemic-shortened season with a 3.65 ERA across 23 games (24 2/3 innings) and converted six saves in six opportunities.
Bard was named National League comeback player of the year in the 2020 Players Choice Awards. The award, sponsored by the MLB Players Association, was especially meaningful because it was voted on by Bard’s peers.
“I was just hoping for one more chance to compete and play the game,” Bard said at the time. “To be recognized by my peers has to be the highest honor I could imagine and something I never expected when I started this journey.”
Bard was selected by Boston with the 28th overall pick in the 2006 draft, made his big-league debut with Boston in 2009 and posted an impressive 2.88 ERA over 197 innings, averaging 9.7 strikeouts per nine innings. He looked like the Red Sox’s closer of the future but then began battling control issues that became a severe case of the yips. He posted a 6.22 ERA in 2012. Before his comeback with Colorado in 2020, he had not pitched in the majors since 2013 and not in the minor leagues since 2017.
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