Red Sox agree to terms with Bard on one-year contract

BOSTON, MA—The Boston Red Sox today agreed to terms with right-handed pitcher Daniel Bard on a one-year, non-guaranteed contract for the 2012 season, thus avoiding salary arbitration. Terms were not disclosed.

The announcement was made by Executive Vice President/General Manager Ben Cherington.

Bard, 26, set a Red Sox record and tied for the American League lead with 34 holds last season while posting a 3.33 ERA (27 ER/73.0 IP) and a 2-9 record.  He topped the team while ranking among AL relief leaders in appearances (T-5th, 70) and opponent batting average (5th, .179) and also finished among qualifying AL relievers in WHIP (6th, 0.96), opponent on-base percentage (7th, .254) and strikeouts (T-7th, 74).  The right-hander posted the fourth-lowest inherited runners scored percentage in the circuit (14.7, 5 of 34) and tied for fifth in the AL with 55 scoreless outings.  He set an all-time club record with a 25-game consecutive scoreless streak from May 27-July 31.

Selected by Boston in the first round of the 2006 First-Year Player Draft, Bard is 5-13 with a 2.88 ERA (63 ER/197.0 IP) and 213 strikeouts in 192 career Major League outings with the Red Sox, all in relief, from 2009-11.  In that time, he leads the American League with 79 holds, ranks fourth among AL relievers in strikeouts and is sixth among that group with a .190 opponent average (132-for-693).

With this move, Alfredo Aceves, Andrew Bailey and David Ortiz are Boston’s only remaining unsigned arbitration eligible players.