Josh Beckett

[AirPantapas]

Is there any reason to think this guy won't be a good pitcher?

 

What can we expect from Beckett next year?

 

3.90era,180k's,18wins

 

Thats what I expect I hope his problems were just adjusting to the AL.Could a new pitching coach help him.

[Cocos Disciples]

I predict 16-9, 3.74 ERA, 174 K's

[Papelbon58]

a new pitching coach could certainly stimulate his abilities, and I think he will improve from this year, but adjusting to the AL does not take that long. He did not improve over the season

[exsubmariner]

a new pitching coach could certainly stimulate his abilities' date=' and I think he will improve from this year, but adjusting to the AL does not take that long. He did not improve over the season[/quote']

 

Lets see over his last 7 games against Angels, A's, Blue Jays, KC, Yankees, Minnesota And Tampa Bay he pitched 46 2/3 innings, won 3 lost 3, gave up 4 homers, struck out 30, walked 15 and had a 3.86 ERA. Sounds like he adjusted to me.

[AirPantapas]

I predict 16-9' date=' 3.74 ERA, 174 K's[/quote']

 

 

I'd be happy with that

[ksushi]

He absolutely showed adjustment over the last month of the season. Take back that final start in a meaningless game and Josh had a very nice september and should feel pretty positive going into next year.

[MANNYHOF24]

I say 19-6 with a 3.30 Era, 200 ks in 230 innings. He has the stuff to do it, he just has to have a much better mental approach and I think he will.

[SchillingIsTheNatural]

He needs to do a better job setting up batters. Now that he has the experience and has seen what teams are capable of....he should do fine. I would still like to see him re-establish that sinking fastball he once had.

 

At the same time I would like to see Jonathan Papelbon work on a offspeed pitch....then he will be our best starter.

[Cityofchampions33]

He needs to do a better job setting up batters. Now that he has the experience and has seen what teams are capable of....he should do fine. I would still like to see him re-establish that sinking fastball he once had.

 

At the same time I would like to see Jonathan Papelbon work on a offspeed pitch....then he will be our best starter.

 

I agree, he cant just depend on his heat and an inconsistent, though he seemed to do better when he used his curveball more. Maybe the sinker caused his blister problems? I really can't think of any otehr reasons for why he didn't use it.

[ksushi]

Gah! Sorry I was totally confused and posted in the wrong thread...

[example1]

His split and slider are so underrated.

 

As far as I know he doesn't have a split. I asked probably 5 times on this site this summer WHY THE HELL DOESN"T BECKETT HAVE A SPLIT? He has Papelbon and Schilling to learn from. My only thought is the desire to keep his elbow in good shape?? :dunno:

[SCM33]

He needs to do a better job setting up batters. Now that he has the experience and has seen what teams are capable of....he should do fine. I would still like to see him re-establish that sinking fastball he once had.

 

At the same time I would like to see Jonathan Papelbon work on a offspeed pitch....then he will be our best starter.

 

Well he does have a pretty good split, and while not a true "offspeed" pitch, Schilling has gotten away with throwing mainly two pitches his whole career. He does throw a slider/slurve/curve or whatever you wanna call it, but its mostly for show. Clemens is another example of this as he got away from the curveball and fell in love with his split/fork and focused on his 2/4 seamers and the split/fork.

[jacksonianmarch]

Unless he develops an off speed pitch that has the effectiveness of his curve but does not cause blisters, we will see the same. It is said that he is very afraid to throw the curve because of the blister problem and he became a one pitch pitcher. In the AL, that dont fly. Fastballs down the heart of the plater may work in Marlin Stadium in the NL, but not in the bandbox that is the fens or anywhere in the AL. Also, his curve is nasty when on and that is why he was so good in the 2003 playoffs IMHO. If he doesnt learn a pitch that is controllable, that is a good disparity in speed from his heat, and that doesnt cut his fingers, he will be a 5era pitcher next yr.

[TheKilo]

I predict 16-9' date=' 3.74 ERA, 174 K's[/quote']

 

Did it hurt pulling those numbers out of your ass?

[elsrbueno]

Beckett was a 3.50 ERA guy in Florida. That makes him a 4.00ish guy in the AL and Boston. Granted he's just enterting his prime now so he can get better.

 

I'd say at BEST he pitches 200 innings with an ERA around 3.5

Worst case (assuming he's healthy) is 200 innings and 5.0 ERA.

My guess is somewhere between 4.0 and 4.5 unless he works miracles in the offseason.

 

It scares me that his K rate went down and that his BB rate went up, but hopefully that's just an adjustment factor. His walk rate in August was lower than his overall seasonal rate, but his strikeout rate was lower too. Not terribly promising if you assume it's just an adjustment period.

 

It's rediculous (IMO) to predict wins for a starter since he's just a small part of what contributes to the win and it's dependant on too much that's not under his control.

[riverside sluggers]

In the AL' date=' that dont fly. Fastballs down the heart of the plater may work in Marlin Stadium in the NL, but not in the bandbox that is the fens or anywhere in the AL.[/quote']

 

True, but Beckett didnt really have the homerun ball affecting him that much in Fenway Park, compared to on the road. In the second half, he had worked on his mechanics and saw a very good drop in HRs allowed. Also, exclusing his last start vs Tampa Bay (where Tito left him in there for too long) the guy was dealing with quality start after quality start. There is promise in him and I'm banking on a better season than the overall 2006 stats show

[Mr Crunchy]

quality start after quality start??

i was at the game against the yankees in august when he bb'd 9 with 9 earned runs

in 4 innings

 

i do agree he seemed to find himself after that but his season can only be described as disappointing

sure

he had 16 wins but an era of 11+ against ny and toronto if im not mistaken

i do think hes ace material and he did stay healthy for the 1st time in his career with his lingering blister problems evidently a thing of the past..

surely a better effort can be expected next summer

 

however.....

when he was needed most he pulled a claude raines and became invisible

[riverside sluggers]

quality start after quality start??

i was at the game against the yankees in august when he bb'd 9 with 9 earned runs

in 4 innings

 

Okkk in between that piss-poor Yankee start & the Tampa Bay start where tito left him in too long, he was dealing like he should (an ERA of a shade over 3)

[BeanTown33]

i was never a huge fan of his to begin with. he didn't impress me at all. i really hope he doesnt start the season off again with 40pitches per first inning. that is just ridiculous. no need for it at all. especially not for someone expected to be an ace, imo.....

[Ray10]

I have no complaints about the guy. Yea he was shaky at some points this year but he was still a good starter for the Sox. And I think next year he will only be better.

[example1]

i was never a huge fan of his to begin with. he didn't impress me at all. i really hope he doesnt start the season off again with 40pitches per first inning. that is just ridiculous. no need for it at all. especially not for someone expected to be an ace' date=' imo.....[/quote']

 

He didn't impress you at ALL? Really. I think his stuff is tremendous he just (for whatever reason) doesn't mix it up well enough. I'm telling you, if this guy develops a splitter then watch out. 97 with a 91 split would be Schilling/Rocketesque (in-his-prime Schilling, that is).

 

I noticed he did a fair amount of tinkering with his windup, and I imagine its things like that that got the pitching coach(es) in hot water :dunno: In any case, his stuff is too good to just let go of. I would rather have him than all but probably 15 SP in baseball.

[Jon_Papelboner]

Is there any reason to think this guy won't be a good pitcher?

 

 

I dunno, maybe a 5.01 ERA?

[riverside sluggers]

I dunno' date=' maybe a 5.01 ERA?[/quote']

 

first year in the AL... relying on fastball too much, to prevent blisters they didnt have him throw curveballs in bullpen sessions. When it was time for the game, he only had the feel for his fastball (hence the trouble). I can guarantee you'll be grimacing about Beckett having a better season

[jacksonianmarch]

first year in the AL... relying on fastball too much' date=' to prevent blisters they didnt have him throw curveballs in bullpen sessions. When it was time for the game, he only had the feel for his fastball (hence the trouble). I can guarantee you'll be grimacing about Beckett having a better season[/quote']

 

I m sick of the excuses for this guy. Changing leagues doesnt make you lose the plate all of a sudden, and you dont just find it in yr 2. If he is afraid to throw the breaking ball because of the blisters, then he needs to develop something offspeed that he can control or he will have a worse yr than this yr. Consider this, most people say that a pitcher has the advantage the first time around because they havent seen him before, and this was the case at the beginning of the yr when he was lights out. His post April ERA must have been 5.5+. He isnt an enigma anymore as this will be his 2nd yr in the league, and we will see him get worse if he cannot adjust.

[riverside sluggers]

Still I look at his streak of 6, 7 quality starts before the last game of the year vs Tampa where Tto left him in too long in the 7th inning. He dint relieve Beckett until after he allowed 7 straight batters to reach base. Purely unacceptable as a manager. Before then, his streak had an ERA of just over 3. He had 6 bad starts out of what 34? Take those out and you have a very good ERA. His win total also wouldve been higher if not for B-grade lineups backing him up in the 2nd half. Lowering his HR by a big margin in the 2nd half proved to me some that he can be able to adjust. He's 26, dont count him out so quickly.

[example1]

I m sick of the excuses for this guy. Changing leagues doesnt make you lose the plate all of a sudden' date=' and you dont just find it in yr 2. If he is afraid to throw the breaking ball because of the blisters, then he needs to develop something offspeed that he can control or he will have a worse yr than this yr. Consider this, most people say that a pitcher has the advantage the first time around because they havent seen him before, and this was the case at the beginning of the yr when he was lights out. His post April ERA must have been 5.5+. He isnt an enigma anymore as this will be his 2nd yr in the league, and we will see him get worse if he cannot adjust.[/quote']

 

You're a hard ass jacksonianmarch. The guy makes a paltry amount of money compared to many other pitchers. He's younger, throws harder and has a tremendous mentality. NOBODY is questioning whether Beckett is stable enough mentally to compete. Look at A-Rod, look at Clement... there are plenty of guys to complain about not named Beckett.

[Mr Crunchy]

ya

but beckett was brought in to beat the yankees and dominate

he didnt do either,in fact his #s against ny and toronto were horrible

if he doesnt have any command of the decent breaking stuff he does have he'll be tatooed again

[example1]

ya

but beckett was brought in to beat the yankees and dominate

he didnt do either,in fact his #s against ny and toronto were horrible

if he doesnt have any command of the decent breaking stuff he does have he'll be tatooed again

 

Obviously.

 

 

I'm pretty sure that Josh Beckett is aware of his poor performance and will do everything he can to do better.

[Cityofchampions33]

You can only get better with experience, and I'm sure Beckett will figure out how to juggle not getting blisters while not relying on his fastball too much. I remember the start where he got a cut on his hand, he was using a lot of curves, and very effectively. He has shown shades of greatness, and he has shown shades of s***, but he has talent, so hopefully it will translate into a good seaosn next year.

[exsubmariner]

quality start after quality start??

i was at the game against the yankees in august when he bb'd 9 with 9 earned runs

in 4 innings

 

i do agree he seemed to find himself after that but his season can only be described as disappointing

sure

he had 16 wins but an era of 11+ against ny and toronto if im not mistaken

i do think hes ace material and he did stay healthy for the 1st time in his career with his lingering blister problems evidently a thing of the past..

surely a better effort can be expected next summer

 

however.....

when he was needed most he pulled a claude raines and became invisible

 

Not sure where you got your figures, but against the Yankees and Toronto he went 3 and 4 with a 7.53 ERA in 9 games. Not great at all but not an 11+ ERA against these teams. He also had 4 quality starts in those 9 games so he was hit or miss. I believe he will be a lot better next year against these two teams.