Daniel Bard tossed two scoreless innings for Triple-A Pawtucket Thursday, allowing no hits while walking one and striking out four. It's easily his best outing of three since being demoted. The Red Sox have been mum about Bard's future role, but we'd be shocked if they put him back in the rotation. If he can string together a few more appearances like this, he should join the bullpen before long.

Daniel Bard allowed one run in one inning Monday in a relief appearance with Triple-A Pawtucket. It was a mixed bag. Bard gave up a single, a walk and a double steal before inducing a run-scoring groundout. He then wiggled out of trouble by getting a swinging strikeout and a strikeout looking. Overall, he threw just 11 out of 22 pitches for strikes, so his command remains a work in progress. It's not known if he'll continue to pitch in relief, but that seems to be the way the Red Sox are leaning at the moment.

Daniel Bard will be pitching out of the bullpen on Monday evening at Triple-A Pawtucket. The Red Sox are still claiming to be undecided about Bard's future role, but the indication here would be that he's ticketed for the big-league 'pen. The righty was demoted to the minors earlier this month after posting a 5.24 ERA and 34/37 K/BB ratio in 11 starts with Boston.

Daniel Bard allowed three runs on two hits and struck out two in first appearance with Triple-A Pawtucket on Friday. Bard was reportedly clocked in the 95 mph range, but struggled with his command -- hitting two batters -- and never really looked comfortable on the mound. He threw 25 pitches (16 strikes) before being removed. "It was a tough situation, it's such a weird outing," Bard said. "You prepare as if it's a start, but knowing you're only going one inning you try to block that out. It's a little bit of a weird mentality." Bard is scheduled to start again on Monday as part of Boston's plan to get him back on track.

Daniel Bard is expected to throw one inning Friday in his first appearance with Triple-A Pawtucket. Bard will continue to work as a starting pitcher, but the Red Sox want him to have short outings as he attempts to sharpen his control and command. "It's more just to be able to repeat it more often," said Bard, who believes he has spotted a mechanical flaw. "If I go out there tomorrow, throw five innings and I basically feel the same as I have my last couple starts, but get through five, we're kind of wasting bullets, I think is the way they see it. But if we go an inning or two and everything feels good, we do it a couple days later and still feel good, then we stretch it out from there." Bard will make his next appearance Monday, though it's not clear how many innings he'll throw.

Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington said Daniel Bard's future role hasn't been decided upon yet. Manager Bobby Valentine said Bard will remain a starting pitcher in the minor leagues, which is technically true, but his first outing Friday at Triple-A Pawtucket will be an abbreviated one. "He has a very good idea of what he's got to do," said Cherington. "He's just focusing on the fundamentals of what allowed him to be elite and what will allow him to be elite in the future, getting those locked in and then we'll worry about pitch counts and role and all that stuff later." We're betting that Bard returns in a bullpen role.

Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said Tuesday that Daniel Bard will remain a starting pitcher in the minor leagues. In other words, the Red Sox haven't abandoned their plan to use him as a starter, but just want him to work through his kinks at the minor league level as opposed to the big leagues. The experiment has been a failure until this point, as he has a 5.24 ERA and 34/37 K/BB ratio, but Valentine thinks he'll have a "quick turnaround." Those in mixed leagues shouldn't wait around.

According to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe, the Red Sox will formulate a plan for Daniel Bard on Tuesday. Bard's rotation spot is hanging by a thread after he gave up five runs on six walks, one hit and two hit batsmen over just 1 2/3 innings Sunday against the Blue Jays. Early word is that the Red Sox are considering whether to move him to the bullpen, place him on the disabled list or demote him to the minors.

According to WEEI.com's Rob Bradford, the Red Sox are prioritizing starting pitching depth leading up to the trade deadline. Daniel Bard is officially on notice. The Red Sox reportedly don't view Daisuke Matsuzaka and Aaron Cook (knee) as realistic options for the rotation, and Ross Ohlendorf recently opted out of his minor league contract. Bard currently owns a 5.24 ERA in 12 appearances (10 starts) this season. He was clocked in the lower-90s on Sunday.

Daniel Bard yielded two runs in 5 1/3 innings Tuesday in a victory over the Tigers. He struck out four, walked two and surrendered a pair of homers. For the second straight start, he won ugly. As we've said before, Bard (5-5, 4.56 ERA) needs to become more economical with his pitches before he's a reliable fantasy starter. Tonight, he needed 94 pitches to record 16 outs. He's worked less than seven innings in seven of his nine starts despite throwing at least 90 pitches in all of them.