Red Sox, Josh Beckett Hope to Work Out Long-Term Deal
Josh Beckett has 1 year left on a 5-year deal/extension he signed back in 2006 when the Marlins traded him to the Red Sox. After the 2010 MLB schedule, Beckett will be a free agent.
Beckett’s numbers don’t lie:
30 starts and 200+ innings pitched in 3 of 4 years. That 4th year, Beckett pitched 174 1/3 innings in 27 starts – that was 2008, his worst year when he was battling injuries and finished with a 12-10 record and a 4.03 ERA.
2006 – 16-11; 5.01 ERA; 1.29 WHIP; 158 K’s; 74 walks.
2007 – 20-7; 3.27 ERA; 1.14 WHIP; 194 K’s; 40 walks. Beckett also went 4-0 in the post-season with a 1.20 ERA as the Red Sox won the World Series.
2009 – 17-6; 3.86 ERA; 1.19 WHIP; 199 K’s; 55 walks.
Can’t get much better than that. Beckett will turn 30 in May 2010, so he definitely has plenty of good years left ahead of him. 65 wins in 4 years, over an average of 30 starts during those 4 years (plus post-season), lots of strikeouts, good WHIP. Beckett is really well-liked in the clubhouse and by the Red Sox faithful. He has also endeared himself to the local Boston community – he just received an award from the Children’s Hospital in Boston for his charitable work with the hospital.
Beckett seems optimistic that something can get done: “Right now, I’m not too concerned with it… I’m just kind of enjoying the first part of my offseason. I’ll try and get started right after Thanksgiving and get back to working for the 2010 season. We’ll see what happens. Obviously, it’s kind of up to them as far as what we talk about now… we just have to let the business people take care if the business end and I’ll worry about the stuff I can control. This would be fun place to continue to play.”
Theo Epstein had similar sentiments. “We don’t talk about those things publicly obviously. He’s put himself in a position where he’s valued very highly by us… He’s someone that we’d obviously like to have be part of our future. Those things have a way of taking care of themselves. Certainly talking about them publicly or getting out of turn or doing things before it’s the right time doesn’t really make sense. We’ll see what happens.”
Bottom line – the Red Sox need to sign Beckett to another 4-5 year deal. He has shown that he is a durable pitcher and he is still fairly young. With Clay Buchholz developing very nicely, the Red Sox would have a terrific trio locked up for several years with Beckett, Jon Lester and Buchholz. If Daisuke Matsuzaka pitches more like he did in 2008 and at the end of 2009 (and not like he did at the start of 2009), the Red Sox starting rotation would really be something special. I have a good feeling that Epstein and Co. will figure out a way to lock up Beckett long-term and still have enough financial flexibility to tweak the rest of the club to stay an elite team in MLB. We’ll keep you posted as soon as we hear anything concrete.