MLB: Josh Beckett Might Be a Fool, but He's Entitled to Be One

There's no question that Josh Beckett has worn out his welcome in Boston.

After another listless performance Thursday night against the Cleveland Indians, where he got tattooed for seven earned runs and seven hits in 2.1 innings pitched—the second start this season where he's given up seven earned runs—Beckett's comments ensured that Red Sox fans around the world no longer care that he was part of a team that bought a world championship to Boston.

"We get 18 off days a year, I think we deserve a little time to ourselves" was Beckett's response to a reporter asking whether he understood how people could view his decision to play golf, on a day where he was reportedly too injured to pitch, as a poor one.

ESPN Boston's Gordon Edes wrote that Beckett was defiant in his commentary.

It wasn't defiance—it was idiocy at its finest.

Josh Beckett is the perfect example of a professional athlete that doesn't get it. He doesn't understand the emotion that fans—especially Red Sox fans, some of the most passionate in all of professional sports—invest in the team he pays for.

Actually, maybe he does get it—maybe it's indifference on Beckett's part.

By his comments and his body language, it's obvious that he could care less about how people view him, whether it is his manager, his teammates or the fans that spend their hard-earned money in a miserable economy to watch him perform.

Josh Beckett is a reminder of everything that is wrong with professional sports—that at the end of the day, it's not about the camaraderie, the competition, or the game itself.

What's it all about then? To quote Sean "Puffy" Combs (sorry, I refuse to call him Diddy or Piddy or P-Diddy, or whatever he's going by today): "It's All About the Benjamins."

And that's fine.

Beckett doesn't 'owe' anyone anything. He gets paid to do a job, which is to take the ball every fifth day and pitch for the Boston Red Sox. Whether he's any good at doing his job is irrelevant—as long as he goes out and pitches, he's fulfilling the requirements of his contract.

Maybe Beckett really is in it for the money and nothing else.

He doesn't need to have a higher purpose for going to work then the rest of us do—how many of us can't stand our jobs but we show up, day in and day out, because we have to? More of us than are nodding their heads right now, that's for sure.

How many pro athletes are really in it for the money and nothing else?

More than just Josh Beckett, most definitely. The difference is that the rest of them are smart enough to keep their mouths shut and toe the company line.

Josh Beckett's problem isn't that he's a bad pitcher, because he's not. It's that he acts like a petulant child who just got caught breaking a lamp. And petulant children deserve no sympathy from the fans, the media, or anyone else.

Ben Cherington will try to trade Beckett because it's his job to try and fix the broken ship that is the Boston Red Sox. But he'll get nowhere near fair value for him.

And that's the bottom line—Beckett's mouth has done more damage to the Red Sox than his arm ever could.