Josh Beckett, while escaping with a no decision after a 10-9 Red Sox loss to the Texas Rangers, gave up three home runs, and looked like his usual pudgy, terrible self Wednesday afternoon at Fenway Park.
I understand the accusation I just made in the title is a little intense, but who among us can definitively say that someone else has been worse to the Red Sox? Okay, maybe Julio Lugo or Edgar Renteria, but their attitudes did not affect the players around them. Beckett is a clubhouse cancer still, allegedly leading the infamous Chicken and Beer Coup of 2011.
When rocky relationships and poor play threatened to put Kevin Youkilis out of Boston, the front office wasted no time in shipping him out, as if it was a matter of life or death for the team. Where is the urgency with Beckett? I can guarantee you no one (well, maybe except John Lackey who keeps appearing in the dugout to eat all their Dubble Bubble) is taking Beckett's side here.
So why won't they get rid of him? They can't. Who has any interest in an overweight past-his-prime starter who has made it clear that his priorities lie elsewhere? Maybe a team like the Nashua Pride, a Can-Am team who employed another large Red Sox great in Rich Garces several years back.
Bottom line is, the Red Sox season is hanging in the balance, and is dangerously close to, if not already teetering on the edge of the cliff. With Josh Beckett playing like he is, the Red Sox are forced to completely change their mindsets and game plans when Beckett takes the hill because they know, as shown today, not even nine runs will bail them out.
Eric Gagne is definitely a worse thing to happen to the Sox.
ReplyDeleteBut I agree Beckett does affect the players around him. I think it's just laziness on the part of the ownership. They shipped Youkilis out so quickly because it forcing a gold glove first basemen to play in right field. Beckett isn't disrupting anything except in the clubhouse so there is so urgency. Plus what could they get for him? Also I imagine the close 16 million dollars he makes a year has something to do with it. It would probably cost a lot of money to unload him.