Josh Beckett Not Coming Off Disabled List Just Yet

Josh Beckett is eligible to come off the disabled list Thursday, but Terry Francona and pitching coach John Farrell haven't deemed him ready to go. Beckett will stay on the disabled list for the time being:

"We’re going to slow him down a little bit,’’ Francona said. "The thinking involved is he’s not able to repeat his delivery consistently enough and that worries us. He starts changing arm angles. You can run into some problems that we don’t need to run into.

"So until we’re a little bit more comfortable, and he’s more comfortable, we’re going to just slow it down a little bit. How much that is, I really don’t know. That’s kind of where we are right now. There’s just a little bit there that concerns us.

"Again, we’ve got this guy for a long time. We know him well. When he’s trying to compete and there’s a little bit of uncertainty, it’s just not going to work as well as it should. We sat down, kind of at length about it, and I think he’s actually in agreement with it and trying to use good judgment.’’

As bad as Beckett has been this season, it will be hard for the Red Sox to try and make the playoffs without Beckett in the rotation. (I'm speaking of the good Beckett, of course). He's a bulldog that sets the tone for the staff and the Red Sox will need that. It may not seem like the Sox need that now, but they will.

Although he's not the most important pitcher for the Red Sox (eyes are on you, Lester), he is still very important. I think this is a good move by the Red Sox to hopefully turn Beckett's game around. Is it really a mechanics issue? Probably, but it may be more than just this injury that cropped up. This may be about correcting an issue that was effecting him before the injury.