Josh Beckett: Golf Stunt Proves Red Sox's Problem Child Can't Be Controlled

Josh Beckett is a starting pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. In his free time, he likes to drink beer, eat fried chicken, play video games and play golf.

When Beckett's pitching, everything is fine. It's the stuff he does when he's not pitching that gets him into trouble.

If you haven't heard the latest scoop out of the Boston area yet, 98.5 The Sports Hub has reported that Beckett played a round of golf somewhere in the Boston area last Thursday.

The reason this is a big deal is because Beckett had been scratched from his next scheduled start just a few days earlier with soreness in his shoulder and lat muscle. Golf is not a physically taxing sport, but it is a sport that requires use of the shoulders and lats, last I checked.

Sox manager Bobby Valentine said it best when he told WEEI (via the Boston Herald) that Beckett playing a round of golf while injured was "was less than the best thing to do."

Indeed, but what are you going to do about it, Mr. Valentine?

“I’m aware of the story being out there," Valentine said. "I haven’t gotten to Josh about that yet. I’m trying to sort out my feelings.”

There's only one thing Valentine should be feeling right now, and that's anger. He gave one of his pitchers a few days off to get healthy, and that pitcher went out and put himself in a situation where his health was very much compromised.

Not injured? No problem. Injured? Big problem.

Let's get one thing straight right here and now: This is not Valentine's fault. He's responsible for a lot of things that have gone wrong in Boston in the early goings this season, but this isn't one of them. He can control players in the clubhouse and when they're all on the road together, but there's not much he can do about his players' plans on days off. 

This is all on Beckett. He knew what was up, yet he made the decision to go out and play golf anyway. Choosing to spend a few hours out on the links is rarely an irresponsible decision. This is an exception.

So it goes for Beckett. If you believe the reports, it was him who was the ringleader for the beer and chicken escapades that were happening behind the scenes while the Red Sox were self-destructing last September. He (and the others) was being irresponsible then, and he was irresponsible last week when he decided to hit the fairways.

And yes, shame on Clay Buchholz for going along with it.

A lot of things have changed between last September and this May. The regime that was in charge of Beckett and the other Sox miscreants last season was replaced by a new regime, and this new regime went out and hired a manager in Valentine who promised to keep the team's players in line.

The team has changed, but Beckett clearly hasn't. He did what he wanted last year, and he's doing what he wants to this year. The only thing that's different is that Beckett is acting recklessly away from the park instead of inside it, as that would entail possibly running afoul of Valentine's iron-fisted rule.

There's unfortunately not a whole lot the Red Sox can do to solve the situation. Trading Beckett would be the easy way out, but he's still got two full years and over $30 million remaining on his contract. Plus, his trade value isn't very high right now. If the Red Sox were to trade him, they'd invariably have to give him away for very little while agreeing to pay a big chunk of the money remaining on his contract.

It's also not exactly in Boston's interest to jettison a starting pitcher. Not as long as their starting pitching continues to rank among the worst in baseball, anyway, and the simple truth of the matter is that Beckett is one of two starting pitchers the Red Sox know they can rely on (the other being Jon Lester).

The Sox have no choice but to hold on to Beckett, and hope that he straightens out his act.

That's a matter of somebody with authority giving him a stern talking to, and of Beckett actually listening to said stern talking to.

I wish the organization luck with that.