SPECULATOR: Spring Training "What if"s — AL Edition

In our 2012 debut this week, we kick off our pre-season coverage with a set of "What if..." questions from around the American League.

What if Daniel Bard (RHP, BOS) doesn't stick in the Boston rotation?

With a couple of openings in the back of their rotation, the Red Sox enter camp this month with the intent of stretching out Daniel Bard as a starting pitcher. But, as we saw with Neftali Feliz a year ago, stretching out in March does not necessarily preclude a return to the bullpen in April. If Bard does go back to the bullpen, what might his role be?

Newcomers Mark Melancon and Andrew Bailey are likely to handle the 8th- and 9th-inning roles, respectively, if Bard is in the rotation. If Bard comes back to the pen, that plan may...

Almost!

You’re just a few clicks away from accessing this feature and hundreds more throughout the year that have a singular goal in mind: Winning your league. Subscribe to BaseballHQ.com here!

Already a subscriber? Sign in here

More From Speculator

Our annual Opening Day Eve exercise at category leaders who went outside the Top 200 this draft season.
Mar 26 2025 3:09am
They come from all stages of the draft. We'll use history as our guide to speculate on this season's Top 15 players.
Mar 19 2025 3:10am
Applying some of Flaherty's pre-breakout traits to this year's player pool.
Mar 12 2025 3:05am
We'll apply some lessons learned from last year's pool to speculate on this year's breakouts.
Mar 5 2025 3:09am
Landmines are littered throughout the draft pool, even in the early rounds. We'll take a speculative look at which are most likely to bust.
Feb 26 2025 3:08am

Tools