No refusing this offer

Look at it this way: Someone wants you to swap their mansion with the five-car garage, the swimming pool, the beautiful gardens, and the tennis courts, and all they're asking for in return is your two-bedroom apartment in an area no one would call chic. Well, yeah, there's a room or two in the mansion that needs fixing up, but that's all.

I think you'd do it.

So say hello to the mansion. His name is Josh Beckett.

What's the worst that can happen here? Hanley Ramírez turns out to be the next Barry Larkin or maybe even Derek Jeter? Or maybe not. We can't let Jeff Bagwell become the eternal Goodyear/MetLife blimp hovering over this franchise. And I can promise you with metaphysical certitude that Josh Beckett is a more valuable prize than Larry Andersen. That's before we even discuss Mike Lowell or Guillermo Mota. If the Red Sox had not made this trade there would have been justification for a citizen army to have invaded Fenway Park.

''Josh Beckett is a premier pitcher," asserted Craig Shipley, a Red Sox special assistant to the (currently nonexistent) general manager, who, along with fellow special assistant to the (currently nonexistent) general manager Bill Lajoie, were called upon to address the salivating media via conference call yesterday afternoon on the subject of the big trade with the Florida Marlins.

And how did it come to pass that there were so few suitors for the 25-year-old Texan when the Marlins let it be known that he would be available during their latest fire sale? ''You needed to have the players and you needed to have the finances," Shipley explained. ''We had both. There were a lot of teams who would liked to have had Josh Beckett if they had those two things."

''Sometimes it comes down to need," added Lajoie, who, at 71 with 50-plus years of experience in the game has been around one or two of these transactions. ''We had the shortstop. They needed one with Alex González declaring for free agency."

The Marlins approached the Red Sox, not vice versa, but that didn't surprise the wily Lajoie. Nothing gets by this sly old fox, and he kind of knew the Marlins would have no choice but to ring up the Sox once they decided Beckett had to go.

''I've noticed over the years that the Marlins have dealt players, wanting prospects in return," Lajoie said. ''It's kind of their M.O. due to their financial situation down there. It's not unusual for them."

On the off chance the name Josh Beckett means nothing to you, here is the Shipley-Lajoie boilerplate profile of the righthander.

''A top-of-the-rotation starter."

''Plus stuff."

''Throws 97, 98 with great curve and great changeup."

''Can't be intimidated."

The baseball world saw what he was capable of in the 2003 postseason when he saved the Marlins against the Cubs in the National League Championship Series with an 11-strikeout, two-hit shutout in Game 5; came out of the bullpen for four shutout innings in Game 7; then beat the Yankees in Yankee Stadium with a complete-game shutout on three days' rest in the Game 6 clincher of the World Series.

Those who make a living in baseball were not exactly surprised, since Beckett had long before been identified as one of the great pitching prospects of the past 25 years. The lad from Spring, Texas, grew up idolizing Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, and all the way up the ladder he was making strides toward joining his idols, culminating in his being chosen by the Marlins as the second pick in the 1999 draft. No high school pitcher had been chosen that high in 22 years.

Given his obvious talent, why has he not done even better? Why was he a .500 career pitcher entering last year, when he had a mild breakthrough at 15-8, 3.38? The answer is contained in another number: 178 2/3. That was his total innings last season, a figure that represents the highest in his four-plus-year big league career. Due to both a recurrent blister problem and a balky right shoulder, Beckett has spent far too much time on the disabled list. That's why it took the Red Sox almost the full permitted 72 hours to conduct what Shipley called a ''thorough review" of Beckett's records before they signed off on the deal.

Presumably, the Red Sox are fully satisfied that Beckett's medical situation will improve, that the blisters on the middle finger of his throwing hand, which do appear to be occurring with less frequency, are on their way to being a permanent part of his past and will not be a part of his future, and that the shoulder can be dealt with satisfactorily. We are discussing a potential Cy Young winner here, but no starting pitcher can hope to win that prize if he can't make more than 29 starts and pitch more than 179 innings.

The makeup should not be an issue. Beckett has always been known for a confidence that has been known to bleed into cockiness and occasionally erupt into arrogance. ''In a market where he will be broken down, scrutinized, and things will be expected," says Lowell, who was acquired along with Mota in the trade, ''I think he can thrive on that."

Ah, the market. That will be an interesting thing to observe. For these three newly expatriated Marlins will be going from a Land of the Living Baseball Dead in South Florida to the diamond hothouse that is New England, a place where people care so deeply that it is frequently injurious to their mental health. Lowell says he has been prepped by the likes of ex-teammates Kevin Millar, Todd Jones, and even Jose Cruz Jr. (you may have been spending a long weekend at the Cape as he came and went) about just what to expect, and he claims to be looking forward to playing in a sizzling baseball atmosphere where everything, good or bad, is magnified. But we have found that this place is not for everybody. In the meantime, they'd better keep Beckett away from Manny. Wouldn't want the lad to get the wrong idea, you know?

Look, all pitchers are physical risks. It's a hazardous profession. Comes with the territory, as they say. But there is an immense difference in gambling on a 35-plus pitcher and a 25-year-old, and if the 25-year-old has already been to the Promised Land and could very well take you there someday, too, there is no choice. You take him.

If Josh Beckett's arm falls off between now and Opening Day, so be it. You don't turn down gift mansions.

Bob Ryan is a Globe columnist. His e-mail address is ryan@globe.com.