You are seriously going to dethrone Lester because he has a few rough starts? You have a great point here for sure, but one could ask why Beckett was dethroned to begin with due to injuries.
Posted by moonslav59

Beckett's career has been so up and down, but I feel much of it can be traced to underlying injuries. Schill was clearly the ace in 2006, but somehow Beckett managed to win more (16) with a 5.01 ERA. In 2007, Beckett was the clear ace (20-11 3.27  1.141 WHIP) and should have won the Cy Young (see harness's piece). His post season was spectacular. 2008 was an interesting year: Dice-K led in ERA 2.90 to Lester's 3.21 (Beck and Wake had respectable low 4 ERAs) Dice-K led Lester in wins 18-16 However, 3 starters had more IP than Dice-K. The WHIP leaders were: Wake 1.182 Beck  1.187 Lest   1.274 Dice   1.324 It's hard to say anyone won over the ace position that year, even though Lester and Dice-K both had better years than Beckett in the traditional categories of judgement (wins and ERA) that to me are flawed. It could be argued that Beckett and Lester were co-aces in 2009, and if you go soley by ERA, I guess some might say Lestr became the ace in 2009, but to me, Beckett was still the ace at this point. Some injuries had effecte his numbers, but even if you put that aside, the numbers were pretty equal in 2009: Beckett  17-6  3.86  1.192  3.62 K/BB Lester    15-8   3.41  1.230  3.52 2010 Beckett ws clearly not himself. If you believe someone can take away a position because of injury, then sure, Lester became the ace in 2010. Buch had a better winning % and ERA (2.33 to 3.25), but I'm not one to claim somone is the new ace based on one great season. You may argue with my methodology and my ratings here, but here is how I rate our starters by season since 2007: 2007       Beck - Dice/Wake (tie) -Schill-  Lest -Tav 2008 Dice/ Lest (tie)- Beck /Wake (tie) - Mast 2009 Beck - Lest (tie) - Buc-Wake (tie) - Mast 2010 Buch - Lest - Lack - Dice - Wake- Beck If you look at the last 4 years combined: Beck: 1, 3, 1, 6 Lest:  5, 1, 1, 2 Slight edge to Leser here but not in WAR... Beckett 55-29  4.08  (18.3 WAR) Lester   54-23   3.40  (17.5 WAR) 2008-2010: Lester:   WAR 17.1 (7th in MLB) Beckett: WAR 11.8 (18th) 2009-2010: Lester    11.9 Beckett    6.7 So far, Beckett's off to an awesome start and Lester has struggled a little bit, but it is early. I'd have to say that when Beckett is healthy, I'd say we have co-aces.
Posted by moonslav59

That's pretty obvious.  I think it's because he can't throw a changeup, which makes it easier for the righthanded hitters. 
Posted by maxbialystock

His ERA is getting closer to 4 and is double Beckett's.  Plus, as I keep saying, I don't think he has a changeup, which is not good for a lefty.  Beckett has a good changeup, and it's made all the difference in the world. 
Posted by maxbialystock

In Response to Re: Lester no longer the ace : Actually, this is the definition of an ace. Big game, makes early mistakes but battles through it, settles down and put the team in position to win. That's as much of being an ace as going 7 innings with no runs.
Posted by royf19

If he goes to the mound another 20 times with the stuff he had last night, then I'd have to agree...However that's an unlikely senerio given his ability and petigree... As for who's our "ace" we have a few guys that could lay claim to that tittle when thier on thier game (Beckett & Buchholz). That said Lester has won 54 games since the start of 2008, 3rd most in MLB behind CC (60) and Halladay (64). Cleary Lester has been the best pitcher on our staff and amoung the best in the game over that period of time. Let's just say that if Beckett continues to pitch as he has early on I like our chances. Ditto Buchholz...
Posted by Beantowne