Beckett, who sprained his ankle Sept. 5 in Toronto, threw off a mound at Fenway Park on Monday and reported no problems. He told the coaching staff he already was well enough to start. Now it's just a matter of picking the right day.
"We've got to come up with a starter either Thursday or Friday," manager Terry Francona said Tuesday from the park. "We told him whatever's in your best interest, if you think that extra day helps you, we'll push you back. That's kind of where we're at. If he thinks that one day really helps, we'll do it."
Tim Wakefield and John Lackey will start the two games against Toronto on Tuesday and Wednesday. Jon Lester will go at some point during the weekend, although that depends upon when Beckett decides to start.
Kyle Weiland, Andrew Miller and even Alfredo Aceves, previously deemed a fixture in the bullpen, could get one of the other starts against the hard-charging Rays.
"We honestly don't know," Francona said. "We have enough bodies here where we have the ability to, even if we wanted to, start Aceves, and if he went four or five [innings], we can cover it because we have enough bodies here. We're still trying to figure out what to do going forward."
Junichi Tazawa, who can go multiple innings out of the bullpen, and Trever Miller, a lefty specialist, joined the bullpen Tuesday in the latest round of September call-ups.
The other wild card in this whole formula is Erik Bedard, who is out with left knee soreness and a lat strain. He hasn’t pitched since Sept. 3, but was getting close to being able to throw again.
Bedard will not start this weekend, but with a doubleheader against Baltimore scheduled for Monday, his return becomes very important.
"We're just going to have to see where it goes," Francona said of Bedard. "We don't know. We know we have a doubleheader coming up. We've got to fill two spots. He may be a candidate, he may not. We'll see."
It's all part of a rotation that remains in flux. At the very least, it's about to get back its leader, and at the perfect time.
