MINNEAPOLIS -- Earlier Wednesday afternoon, in his scheduled weekly radio appearance on WEEI, manager Bobby Valentine suggested that Daniel Bard, scheduled to start Friday in Chicago, might be available for an inning of relief work Wednesday night.
When Valentine got to Target Field later, however, that plan changed.
"Before I got here, he might have been (avaialble),'' said Valentine. "Then we talked and we figured it was not the right thing to do. At 2 o'clock this afternoon, I think it was an option.''
"We just talked about it. What if (the inning) goes 30 pitches? What are we going to do, take him out after the 22nd pitch -- bring someone else in? It's a crazy situation. I don't think he needs more than 50 pitches today between warming up and in a game. What if he goes over that? Then you're not in a good place.''
Bard had a side session of 45-50 pitches Wednesday afternoon at Target Field in preparation for his start against the White Sox.
"He'll be ready,'' said Valentine.
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