01:00 AM EST on Tuesday, November 22, 2005

When he's healthy and he's on, Beckett can chew up hitters like nobody's business.

The 2005 Scouting Notebook

It's not 1997 all over again. It's not Pedro Martinez coming to Boston just as his career is gaining steam down the runway and getting ready to lift off towards Cooperstown.

But it's close.

Josh Beckett is the best pitcher who'll change uniforms this offseason, and he gives the Red Sox what they sorely lacked throughout 2005: A top-of-the-rotation starter. Should his acquisition be coupled with a comeback bysCurt Schillingsand a blossoming by Jonathan Papelbon, the Sox could have one of the best rotations in the American League next season. In the years to come, a Beckett-Papelbon-Jon Lester trio could be the match of any starting trio in baseball.

His four-seam fastball tops out at 97 MPH and he gets good movement on his sinker at 92-94 MPH. He has a . . . 12-to-6 curveball that is the equal of Kerry Wood's . . .

Beckett's only 25 years old -- he won't turn 26 until May -- but he already has a World Series-clinching triumph at Yankee Stadium under his belt. "He may be the next great, big-time power pitcher," said ESPN's Peter Gammons, and Beckett's record last year (15-8, 3.38 E.R.A.) began to reflect the potential baseball people have seen in him since he first joined the Marlins in 2001.

[His] changeup isn't as consistent as it should be at this stage in his develepment . . . Beckett has tinkered with a splitter but has yet to develop the confidence to throw it regularly in tight spots. His biggest problem remains his bursts of anger when things go wrong on the mound. He still struggles to put bad pitches and bad calls behind him and tends to brood, sometimes for days, after disappointing outings.

He's not perfect, and his development still has a ways to go. The little flag over his picture in the Scouting Notebook reads "Cy Young Stuff," not "Cy Young Winner." Still, having Cy Young stuff is the biggest step toward being a Cy Young winner. Red Sox fans have reason to be happy on this late fall evening, and for more than one reason.

Because what Beckett's acquisition also does is lift the cloud of gloom that has hung over the franchise since the shocking announcement on Halloween night that Theo Epstein was leaving. The Red Sox, reeling from Epstein's departure, have been described as rudderless. Some have said they were letting the offseason get away from them, falling behind in trade and free-agent negotiations as they continue to search for a new general manager.

Instead, they made a deal that would have done Epstein proud. Certainly one Epstein would have praised for -- to the heavens -- had he made it.

Which is not to say Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez aren't blue-chip prospects, because they are. But it's not a) as if they're guaranteed to achieve the sort of success Beckett has already had in the major leagues, and b) they were being traded for someone like Schilling, a late-30s veteran nearing the end of the line. Beckett hasn't yet hit his prime. When he does, the Red Sox should reap almost as many, if not more, benefits than they would had they kept Ramirez and Sanchez.

Mike Lowell is the skunk at this garden party -- a 32-year-old who lost nearly 60 points off his batting average, saw his home-run total drop from 27 to 8, and who is owed $9 million in each of the next two seasons. He was the attachment without whom the deal couldn't have been made, same as he was with another of Florida's starters, A.J. Burnett, last July when the Sox were dickering with the Marlins at the trading deadline. The Sox wouldn't bite when Lowell's appendage was Burnett. But when it was Beckett, they decided it was worth the risk.

There's hope Lowell will rebound in 2006, and moving to Fenway Park may spark a comeback. There's also a chance the Sox could flip him; it's been reported in the St. Paul Pioneer Press that the Twins are interested -- as long as someone else pays a good chunk of Lowell's salary -- and could offer pitching (Kyle Loshe, J.C. Romero and/or Scott Baker) in return. Those names should intrigue the Sox, who need bullpen help.

But they needed top-of-the-rotation help more. Last night, it appears they got it.

Art Martone is the sports editor of the Providence Journal. He can be reached via e-mail at amartone@projo.com