Report: Red Sox looking to trade Josh Beckett
Josh Beckett has not had a good year for the Red Sox. Since his fried-chicken-and-beer days last September, his reported weight gain during the 2011 season, his vow last September that baseball was just not that important to him, and then his abysmal results this season, he is more of a burden for Boston than an ace pitcher.
So it is not much of a surprise, then, that the Red Sox seem to be exploring trade options involving Beckett. According to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, the Red Sox called the Texas Rangers and Atlanta Braves over the weekend to gauge interest in the righthander.
Trading Beckett won’t be easy – he’s in the second year of a contract that will pay him a little over $15 million per year through 2014. There aren’t many teams on the market who would be interested in that expensive of a pitcher when the guy is 5-9 with a 4.57 ERA this season and a questionable commitment to fitness and baseball.
If anybody is interested in Beckett, the pitcher would also have to waive a no-trade clause, as Beckett has a no-trade thanks to the 10/5 rule: 10 years of MLB experience and at least five years with the same team.
On Friday, Beckett was candid with WEEI’s Rob Bradford about the possibility of a trade. He said he “absolutely” wants to stay in Boston and claims GM Ben Cherington told him during Spring Training that he wants to keep Beckett (before Beckett began his 5-9 season). However, should Beckett feel unwanted, he said he wouldn’t be opposed to a change of scenery.
“If you’re not wanted somewhere, why stay there? Know what I mean?” Beckett told Bradford. “It kind of makes it a little more difficult. But [Cherington] assured me during spring training that he wants me here, so as far as I’m concerned, it’s just made-up fodder.”
The MLB trade deadline is July 31.
