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Josh Beckett must take responsibility

Tony Massarotti

THIS STORY APPEARED IN

February 11, 2012|By Tony Massarotti

Josh Beckett and the Red Sox will begin spring training next week. (Jim Rogash/Getty Images )

Josh Beckett is missing the point, though there is the possibility that he is simply trying to avoid it. This is not about chicken. This is not about beer. This is not even about on-field failure, because the Red Sox and their followers have endured a good deal of that before, too.

What this is about, quite simply, is the seeming absence of commitment from a man whom the Red Sox once regarded as a model of dedication.

Now, as spring training rapidly approaches in the aftermath of a Red Sox season that ended with a truly historic collapse, Beckett and his mates are poised to get back to work with a new manager, a renewed purpose and another chance. Months after the cataclysmic end to the 2011 Red Sox season, Beckett went on a talk show with former Red Sox infielder Kevin Millar last week and lamented the breach of trust that took place within the Red Sox organization last fall, never once accepting responsibility for the nonsense that took place inside the clubhouse walls at 4 Yawkey Way.

Fine, so Beckett is stubborn. Whatever. But instead of wondering how information leaked to the media last year, Beckett should probably be spending more energy wondering why.

His answer?

Because he let the team down with his attitude, not his performance, and he lost their trust in the process. Someone wanted people to know that.

Let’s back up here for a moment. Since the day he arrived in Boston in the deal that sent Hanley Ramirez to the Florida Marlins, Beckett has been something of a lightning rod, the heir to a line of Red Sox kings that ran from Roger Clemens to Pedro Martinez to Curt Schilling. In his second season with the team, Beckett won 20 games and anchored the team’s run to the 2007 World Series title. Beckett was such a model for the club that the Red Sox all but tucked Jon Lester under Beckett’s wing, instructing Lester to work as Beckett did, care as Beckett did, commit as Beckett did.

Four years later, the move backfired. Beckett allowed himself to get terribly out of shape during a 2011 season that began with great promise and ended in utter disarray. Beckett showed up in camp saying he had never played on a team that won 100 games, then left town stigmatized from having played on a team that suffered the worst late-season collapse in the history of Major League Baseball.

In his final eight starts of 2011, Beckett posted a 5.06 ERA. In his final two outings - against the Orioles - Beckett allowed 12 runs and four homers in 13.1 innings. Truth be told, Beckett’s performance was not much worse than most anyone else who pitched for the Red Sox down the stretch, though there is one obvious difference between Beckett and everyone else.

On the pitching staff, at least, he is supposed to be their leader.