Past moments won't help if Beckett can't put it all together

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Feb. 24, 2006 By Scott Miller CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer Tell Scott your opinion!

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- He has dominated October. He has broken in a clinching World Series game in Yankee Stadium as easily as a new pair of Levis.
Still, the question persists in the background, grating as a car alarm.
When, Josh, when?

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He has worked as the ace of the Florida Marlins. He has been linked with Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood as another in an impressive array of "fire-ballers" produced in the great state of Texas.
Still, the chorus chants around him, persistent as a church bell.
When, Josh, when?
When will you finally reach the top of the mountain? When will you pitch 200 innings, make it through a season without a blister dumping you onto the disabled list, develop into the snarling giant you keep threatening to become?
When, Josh, when?
"If you think about the result, it corrupts the process," said Josh Beckett, when asked if he has taken a minute or two yet to daydream about just how much he can accomplish now that he's backed by a Red Sox team with pockets deep enough to contain answers to all of the questions.
He pauses, then offers a wry smile.
"That's a great quote," he said. "You ought to write that one down."
It came from a minor league pitching coach long ago, and it has stuck with him for years. It is a great line. It is a keeper for him, because no matter how much he huffed and puffed and sweated through those humid Florida nights, Beckett, despite many great outings, never did produce consistently great results.

The Red Sox are hoping Josh Beckett can repeat his 2003 World Series MVP performance. (AP)

Beyond the flash and sizzle, he has never been able to pitch 200 innings in a season -- the telltale mark of a workhorse. Despite last season's career-best 15-8 record, he's a barely above average 41-34 for his career. And blisters have conspired to land him on the disabled list six times.
Yet here he is this spring, standing in the Boston clubhouse at the intersection of time and place, the perfect location from which to ascend to the throne many expected him to inherit at least two years ago.
"We've got a great team, the best I've ever been on," Beckett said. "We were good in '03, but the best team in baseball? Probably not. We won because we had chemistry and played well."
At 25 and still perched on the precipice of superstardom, this is Beckett's best chance yet to make his statement. He looks to his right this spring and sees Curt Schilling's locker. To his left, David Wells. Behind him, Matt Clement and Tim Wakefield and around the corner and down a bit, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez.
Yes, there was talent in Florida but no, Beckett has never been surrounded by a cast as deep and rich as this. It's like suddenly learning your allowance has gone from $5 a week to $50. Oh, the possibilities.
"I think if you ask him, he feels like last year was a mediocre year for him, and he still won 15 games," said third baseman Mike Lowell, a longtime teammate who came to Boston along with Beckett in the November trade that sent three prospects, including shortstop Hanley Ramirez and pitcher Anibal Sanchez, to the Marlins. "In my opinion, he's got three-plus major league pitches, and you just don't find that.
"He's proven he can win on the big stage. He's not intimidated. He's proven he can dominate in the postseason, and that he can go into a baseball atmosphere like this one."
But he has never pitched with these kinds of expectations in this type of atmosphere for an entire summer.
And in a season of major change in Boston -- an entire new infield, Coco Crisp replacing Johnny Damon in center field -- Beckett has less wiggle room than ever before. He must win, and win often, or the chorus will grow louder. When, Josh, when?
Schilling -- who appears to be healthy -- cannot do it alone. As Beckett goes, so, too, will Boston.
"Oh man, I always thought he was one of the top three starters in the National League," said veteran Mark Loretta, the new Red Sox second baseman who faced Beckett often in the NL when Loretta was with San Diego and Milwaukee. "Facing him down in Florida when the lights were on ... he's got all the stuff. He has the mental makeup. He's a top-of-the-line guy."
Who has topped out at 178 2/3 innings during a season, the career high he established last summer.
Like many flamethrowers, Beckett failed to dominate consistently early in his career partly because he needed to learn that his fastball could be more of a weapon if he didn't always fling it as hard as he could.
"His only downfall is he's so competitive," said Lowell. "Early in his career, he didn't just want to get guys out, he wanted to strike them out and embarrass them, like in high school.
"He learned that Strike 1 is a great thing; that even when he doesn't have his best stuff, he can still win."
The blisters, though, remain unwelcome annual visitors. One sidelined him again last summer, and the frequency with which they strike has almost obscured his coming out party in October 2003, when he went 3-0 with a 2.11 ERA in six postseason games, including five starts. He pitched a complete-game, five-hit shutout in Yankee Stadium to allow the Marlins to clinch the title in Game 6 of the World Series.
"I think maybe the lack of Miami humidity will be helpful," Lowell says. "I know that was a big thing. It's unbelievable, the size of some of those blisters. People think 'blister, just prick it with a pin and it goes away.' But he was ripping whole pieces of skin off of his finger."
Beckett held up his blister-free right hand after Friday's workout as evidence that, for now, everything is fine. And Beckett and the Red Sox pray it will stay that way.
He currently is down about 15 pounds, but that's only because of a bout with the flu. He guarantees the weight will return during the season -- his preference is to stay somewhere between 235 and 240. Nevertheless, Jason Varitek caught Beckett's live batting practice session Friday morning and came away raving about the "late life" on his pitches -- fastball, curve, slider.
"He's got some exceptional late life," Varitek says.
Perhaps that's how it will turn out in Beckett's baseball life as well. Five years into the majors, he has certainly had his share of moments. Maybe the late life will come in the form of blister-free hands, 200 innings pitched, perhaps another World Series.
When, Josh, when?
"I'm excited," he says. "I'm always ready for the season to start. Spring training always is a tedious time, for all of us."

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In which round would you draft him.Just went mid 3rd in a 20 team Al league I am drafting now. 4th starter taken.Intersting was taken by a member of the Red Sox office staff.

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In a keeper league where you can keep 4 guys....2 pitchers and 2 Pos players like ours I would take him 4-5 round.......In a non keeper league he would be 8- 10 rounds......can't waste a High Draft pick on Potential IMO