Globe 10.0: Worried about Sox starting pitching?

A couple of things should be noted. First, in the last four games, the starting pitchers' ERA is 2.36 so it might becoming more consistent.

Beckett hasn't been that bad. After back-to-back horrible starts to end April, he has two decent starts, three runs in six IP followed by a great start. Take away those two horrible starts and he has an ERA of 3.79.

As for Lester, his problem is that in a few of his starts, he has one horrible inning that ruins what had been a good start. If he can learn from Dice-K on how to limit the damage or get out of trouble when runners get on, he'll be fine. When he gets in trouble, it seems he tries to blow it by the batters and instead leaves the ball out over the plate.

I'm not so sure that I'm worried about Josh Beckett as that I think this is an ideal time to trade him. He'll be a free agent after 2010, and with the Sox young pitching I don't think there is any way they are going to spend big bucks to resign him. Now is when he still has high trade value, and the Sox do need to shake things up. They need a shortstop and a bat in the lineup. Trading a top-of-the-rotation pitcher like Beckett should be allow them to fill those holes. My suggestion (and there are probably better options) is to trade Beckett to the Rangers for Michael Young and Taylor Teagarden or Salty. You accomplish four things with a trade like this: 1. You get an impact bat with Young; 2. You fill a gaping hole at shortstop, also with Young; 3. You get your catcher of the future; and 4. You create an opening for Buchholz/Bowden.

Looking back, its too bad we didn't trade Lester and Ellsbury for Santana

This team still has SICK pitching. The Yankees are finally turning their staff around, and so that time will come for the Sox. Lester and Dice K will be fine, Beckett has been an up and down thrill ride, but I'd give him 15 wins this season. Wake has been Wake, what can you say? He is INVALUABLE to this team. Penny has been a pleasant surprise. Smoltz? Who isn't excited to see that?! And with Bowden and Buch in the wings, you cannot count this team out. Especially given the fact that they are 1.5 games back with such HORRID starting pitching.

I wonder if it has escaped everyones notice that the best start Lester had this year was with Kottaras behind the plate and not Tek. It might be worth checking out again and if it works then go ahead and have them be a pair. The way the rotation is lined up right now Wake would pitch, then Penny, then Lester so it would go GK, Tek, GK, Tek, Tek which would give Tek the days off they say they want to give him, perhaps stabalize Lester if the pairing works out as it did earlier this season, and it would give GK a chance to establish a playing time rythem and the SOx a chance to see if he is a quality big league catcher and long term option for them.

Beckett looked great in his last outing and Schilling called him the greatest October pitcher EVER ( before last October). Lester will be o.k . Because of all he's been through he has a tough, gutty mentality and has guaranteed a rebound.I am the only one apparently who loves Brad Penny ( his girlfriend more) he battles,always pitches 6 innings, and someone correct this but I believe all but 2 of his starts were deemed quality. He has been the 2nd best starter.

Poster #2...how many times are you going to post this? I've already seen the same comment in at LEAST three different locations.. We get it, you want to trade Beckett.

vermonter17032 i hope your kidding or high. when healthy, beckett is a stud in the postseason, we cant say that about buchhotlz or bowden, so were just going to throw our "ace" away for the big contract of Mike young and a once again unproven young catcher? people like you should stick to video games, shit like that doesnt work out in real life...

Has Beckett been that stud you are referring to over the last 2 years? Hope he recovers his form. Think he isn't motivated right now. But Sox shoukd bring up Bowden and Bucholz over the next 6 weeks if not just to audition them for a possible trade for a LH bat. Sox waited way to long to move Ortiz. Now they are stuck. Perhaps they should consider moving Beckett. He isn't the stud he used to be. Velocity still there, but control isn't. Not saying trade him, but better look at possible alternatives. He is sliding a bit. Not that pitcher you see in your mind anymore. Still top of rotation, but not an ace..sorry. Hope he proves me wrong.

"I wonder if it has escaped everyones notice that the best start Lester had this year was with Kottaras behind the plate and not Tek."

More likely an anomaly than anything. A lot of people were throwing the same thing around back in '06 after Beckett had a series of great starts with Mirabelli behind the plate. It wasn't that Mirabelli called a better game, Beckett just happened to hit his spots better. His biggest problem has been absolutely terrible luck. He's got a monumentally high BAbip (Batting average on balls in play) of .385. This basically boils down to a matter of the fielders not getting the job done for him.

With the depth that we have at the position, there's really no option other than to sit and wait. Trading Beckett after a bad one-third of a season would be a colossal mistake. WIth Penny exceeding expectations and Smoltz and Bowden in the wings, the best thing to do is wait and see. Which, by the way, I absolutely guarantee is what the Sox will do.

I have been thinking about the Kottaras thing too. I wonder if there is too much feeling like one of the coaches is behind the plate versus a teammate who is only a year older than him. I mean, it doesn' t have to be a regular thing (like tonight, duh, go with the hot bat) but if Lester is doing the day after night or depending on where Dice K is fitting in...something to think about...And let Tek do what will undoubtedly his future job and evaluate from the dugout.

Beckett has improved over each start, so I don't know why people are so concerned about him. Lester has yet to show any improvement so that's where my concern is. My overall impression is that the coaching staff allows too much freedom to the pitchers. I hear how hard Beckett works, but he does not look well conditioned, nor does Brad Penny. Lester's problem appears to be that he gets tired. Perhaps more focus should be on making sure these guys stay fit.

Nobody goes their whole career without a couple less than stellar years mixed in. Nothing is worse than seeing one of your former guys get away during a rough stretch only to go allstar elsewhere for years and years.

That's all that's going on with Beckett. he's probably got some physical thing we don't know about. Next year he'll win 20.

Why all the buzz about trading Beckett? It's only May 21st, it's a long season.
The Sox have a very, very economical starting rotation that is performing and has us on the verge of being in first place??? We have two starting pitchers in the top 10 salaries for the Sox this year. Beckett is #4 at just over 11 million, and Daisuke is just a little above 8 million. Look what the Stanks doled out to Burnett and Sabathia. Let our guys go out and eat up innings and pitch, we have some good young arms if we need them. What bugs me more is that JD Drew and Julio Lugo are in the top 5 Salaries for the Sox this year.........Ugh.......THEO!!!!!

How can you call Lesters start with Kottaras behind he plate an anomoly when they have only been paired together once and the results are positive. You would have to have them paired together a few times and then look at the results in order to be able to identify an anomoly. If yo uwatched last nights game, Eck pointed out several times that Lester and Tek seemed to disagree on a pretty regular basis on the plan of attack for a hitter. If you have the pitcher doubting the catcher on a regular basis, or not throwing a called pitch with conviction you are looking to get hit hard which has been his trend in the early part of the season.

Furthermore, regarding the BABIP...a pitcher has better control over his BABIP than does a hitter. A pitcher with an abnormally high BABIP has a big hand in that number as a result of missed location, bad pitches etc.A hitter on the other hand can make solid contact but a defense that is properly aligned can still get that player out. Lesters high BABIP is a lot of his own fault and while he may in fact regress closer to the league norm over the course of a season his bad start is without a doubt much of his own doing.

The Sox are only a half game out of first place despite the lack of hitting from Ortiz, Dice K being out injured, and slow starts by Beckett and Lester. Once they all play up to potential they will be fine and should move into the top spot in the AL East.