Curt Schilling Says Red Sox ‘Should Sign Josh Beckett Today’

Josh Beckett may be staring down the final year of his Red Sox career, but one former Red Sox hurler thinks the team should waste no time wrapping up the tall righty with an extension.

Curt Schilling wrote on Monday that the Red Sox need to sign Beckett "today," according to his blog 38pitches.com.

"The one worry, other than health, you have when signing any player to a long term contract is the player themselves," Schilling explained. "Are they going to keep grinding, working, wanting it? That’s where this becomes a no brainer. I know Josh as well as anyone knows Josh. There is not a sliver of a chance that you get anything less than his total focus, concentration and effort for every day he’s under contract, no matter who that is with."

Wrapping up Beckett would mean the top three bullets of the Red Sox chamber would be locked and loaded for perhaps the next three years.

"You lock Josh up you lock up the top three spots in your rotation (well four if you don’t trade Clay) for the next 3-5 years, and each of those spots is occupied by a one or a two," Schilling wrote. "In the AL East you go into each season with a legitimate shot at winning it all with that mix."