The Curious Case of Josh Beckett

After being scratched for his start scheduled for Friday night in Detroit, Josh Beckett has continued to trend toward one thing: pissing people off. I don't really understand how to classify Josh. He's been really dominant at times, while countering those great games with stinkers that would even offend public restrooms. Beckett's 2010 stats so far: 1-1 with a 7.46 ERA.

The debate with Beckett is this: how do we classify him as a pitcher, particularly with his tenure as a Boston Red Sox? Some say he's in the dominant class of pitchers around the league, but lately, you hear more of the whispers of Beckett being slightly above average and an underachiever.

You decide. The evidence is as follows:

Beckett in his career is 107-69 with a 3.89 ERA. That looks and sounds pretty good. Most fans would then probably guess his Red Sox numbers as a whole aren't too pretty though. They are a surprising 66-35! His ERA is 4.21, but factor in that he has a 7.46 ERA currently. It may be hard for many fans to learn that Josh Beckett's numbers are better than expected. He won an ALCS MVP and dominated in the 2007 postseason. He's still young, throws in the mid 90s, and has the guts to take the ball while hurt. There's a lot there to give fans high expectations.

But that isn't the issue. This guy is supposed to be your ace. He just got paid a hell of a lot of money to be that ace for the next five seasons. I'm not seeing a guy who has won two World Series, almost soley on his dominant pitching. I'm seeing a guy who I have zero confidence in when he takes the ball. I see a pitcher who makes fans have no idea whether Jeckyll or Hyde is going to show up.

Josh Beckett hasn't even started game one of the each of the last two postseasons. Even the Red Sox know this guy isn't an ace anymore. Your ace doesn't have his turn skipped in the rotation. Your ace doesn't have a 5.96 career ERA in almost 20 starts against the Yankees. The alarm in your head should be going off right about now.

I don't know what exactly to expect from Josh Beckett the rest of the season. For all we know, common sense tells us he should rebound and have a pretty solid season. But I tell you this: don't expect him to be your ace.

JMO