Re-signing Beckett was a no-brainer

By Chris Maza
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Excuse me if I don't do any back flips or call Theo a genius for signing Josh Beckett to a four-year extension. Why? Because I don't pat people on the back for making easy decisions.

When the Red Sox signed John Lackey to a lucrative deal this offseason, it was believed by some that the front office was preparing to let Beckett hit the free agent market at the end of the season with Lackey acting as his replacement. I had to chuckle.

And that's not a knock on Lackey, who is a fine pitcher. But Josh Beckett, whether you want to call him the ace or not, has been the anchor of the Red Sox pitching staff and there was no reason to let him go.

If the team is ready to pay $8.6 million to a player who is now playing for a division foe and pay another $12 million for a player who is essentially a backup designated hitter at this point in his career, it had better have been ready to pay the man with 65 wins and a .657 winning percentage and a 5-1 postseason mark in four years with the team.

With him retained, the Red Sox could have one of the most formidible pitching staffs in baseball for a long time. Beckett, Jon Lester and Lackey are now all assured spots in the rotation (barring something unexpected happening, of course) from now until 2013 and possibly 2014 if the Red Sox pick up Lester's option that year. Clay Buchholz, who many teams would love to have as a second or third starter down the road, is also under Red Sox' control until 2014. Granted, this is all with the unrealistic assumption that no one gets hurt, traded, etc.

Normally, I am not a fan of long-term deals with pitchers because so few of them have worked out and likewise, the deal with Lackey makes me nervous because he has had difficulty staying healthy. Beckett hasn't had such issues with the Red Sox, starting at least 30 games in three of the four seasons he's been in Boston. It's especially impressive after getting a reputation for being injury-prone with the Marlins, although he often voiced frustrations with them, once calling himself the healthiest man on the DL.

Beckett seems like an old man simply because he's been around forever. He pitched his first game at 21 years of age and will turn 31 in May, so the odds of this extension turning out to be a Mike Lowell-esque disaster are not as high.

I don't know if I like using the term "big game pitcher," but the bottom line is if you were looking for someone who fit that description on the Red Sox, it would have to be this guy. Given is track record, age and the fact that the price tag wasn't all that unreasonable, given what the team has handed out in terms of contracts recently, this was a no-brainer.

So congrats, Theo, on making maybe the easiest decision in your professional career.