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March 10, 2008
By JOE McDONALD
Journal Sports Writer
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Jon Lester is already a key factor for the Red Sox’ starting rotation for the upcoming season, but his role could become a little more important with questions surrounding the ailing Josh Beckett.
Team physician Dr. Thomas Gill arrived in Florida on Sunday, probably to exam Beckett first-hand, and manager Terry Francona said this morning that the right-hander was pretty sore Sunday night and again today.
''He had a good day (Sunday) but a tough night," Francona said.
While the Red Sox are in Port St. Lucie to play the Mets, Beckett was back in Fort Myers getting treatment.
''He's resigned himself to do the right thing and not something silly," said Francona. ''We'll be ok, we just have to get [Beckett's back] calmed down.''
Beckett was scheduled to start against the Marlins on Saturday, but felt the spasms after throwing just one warmup pitch and let the field. Francona said the right-hander will not resume baseball activities until the spasms go away. Now that he's had a little bit of a setback, Beckett's availability for the Japan trip is in question.
''There's no reason to make that assessment today," said Francona. "It doesn't make sense. We just want to get him better.''
Facing a 19-hour flight to Japan in just nine days would be difficult for someone with a back issue. Francona said the team will use caution with this.
''We’re going to do what’s in the best interest of our ballclub – short term and long term,” Francona said. “We always do. I can’t imagine a 17-hour flight is good for anybody.”
By now everyone in the baseball world, and beyond, knows Lester’s story of successfully beating cancer and winning the clinching game of the World Series last October in Denver against the Rockies. With this latest situation with Beckett, it’s very possible Lester could be the Sox’ Opening Day starter.
''We viewed him as an innings eater for a lot of years,'' said Francona. ''He’s a big strong kid. He’s durable and he’s got a good delivery. If he pounds that strike zone those 100-pitch five-inning games will turn into the seventh inning because his stuff is plenty good. There are a lot of good things going in his favor.''
Today is just another interesting facet to Lester’s career as he's facing the pitcher he was almost traded for in the Mets’ Johan Santana. All throughout the offseason the Red Sox were a major player in the Santana sweepstakes, but in the end GM Theo Epstein decided the price was too high and didn’t want to sell the organization’s top prospects in order to acquire Santana.
During the winter Lester was asked time and again about the possibility of being traded, and time and again he would say he wanted to stay in Boston and if he was traded then he would show up to work for his new employer and give 100 percent.
After the Mets acquired Santana from the Twins, Lester was quite thrilled to remain in Boston. At this point, the Sox are fortunate, too.
Lester has learned to live with the stamp of ''cancer survivor'' and every time the Red Sox visited a new ballpark where the left-hander is pitching, he’s always asked about his successful battle against the disease.
The Red Sox do their very best to downplay the inspirational story, too. But it’s easy to get emotional when hearing just what the last two years have been like for Lester.
''It was an unbelievable story,'' said Francona. ''I think our guys like him already. They already cared about him, and what we’re looking for, and he had a good grasp of this, is once you get on the field you have to win. For a young kid, he grasps that really well. I’m sure it was emotional, and it was for me, but once you take the field you’ve got to try to win the game. The other hitters, their job is to beat you, regardless of what you’ve gone through. He did a really exceptional job of that.''
Posted by Joe McDonald 
at 12:28 PM | Permalink
