Red Sox Memories: A common pitching thread to Red Sox championships
By Rick McNair
Josh Beckett arrives to save the 2007 Red Sox season
The dividends from trade with Miami in 2005 took slightly longer to coalesce than the Schilling trade to capture a World Series. The transaction also turned quite favorable for both the Red Sox and the Marlins. The baseball axiom that the best trades help both teams is the result.
The key players were Mike Lowell and Josh Beckett to Boston and two top of the line prospects in Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez went south to Miami. Again the pattern was now being established with prospects in exchange for players with contract considerations.
At 23-years-old, Beckett had become a World Series Most Valuable Player with an outstanding performance against the New York Yankees in 2003. In 2005, Beckett won 15 games for the Marlins and followed up with 16 wins for Boston in 2006. That set the stage for a dynamic 2007 season and a 4-0 playoff run and American League Championship Series Most Valuable Player Award.
In the regular season, Beckett was pure ace material and topped the American League in wins with 20. In the playoffs against the then-named Indians, Beckett won a pivotal Game 5 with Boston down 3-1 in the series. Beckett had previously defeated eventual Cy Young winner C.C. Sabathia in Game 1. In the World Series against the Rockies Beckett won another game and Lowell became the series Most Valuable Player.
Beckett never attained the same level of pitching mastery as he did in 2007, finishing his Red Sox tenure with 89 wins spread over seven seasons. However, Beckett did make two All-Star teams before his excessive contract was shipped to the Dodgers in the infamous Nick Punto trade.
An integral part of Beckett being traded is some of the more notorious histories of the Red Sox. The Great Collapse of 2011 when Beckett, Jon Lester, and John Lackey drank beer, ate fried chicken, and played video games in the clubhouse during games. Not to be outdone in the dysfunction department, Beckett reportedly played golf on a day he was a pitching scratch during the 2012 season.
Lowell became a steady and solid third baseman and clubhouse anchor slashing .290/.346/.468 with 80 home runs in his career. Ramirez became a Rookie of the Year and batting champion with Miami. Eventually, Ramirez came back to the Red Sox with an ill-advised free-agent signing. Sanchez pitched seven seasons with Miami going 44-45.