Daniel Bard is hoping for a fresh start with the Chicago Cubs, who claimed him from the Boston Red Sox earlier this week.
"It's been a crazy week for me, crazy year for me and even wilder few days," Bard said. "To have a fresh environment to work in is really exciting."
Bard may not pitch in a game this month, but that doesn't mean he's not in Chicago's plans for next season. He was a dominant setup man for the Red Sox in 2010 and 2011, but has battled injury and inconsistency since then.
His troubles began when the Red Sox tried to convert him from a reliever to a starter.
"I could spend all day talking about it," Bard said. "I don't think it was necessarily a bad move in itself.
"We, the coaches and myself included, tried to change too many things to try to turn me from a reliever to a starter, where I probably could have just taken the pitcher that I was out of the bullpen for four years and plopped that into a starting role and probably would have been fine."