John Lackey sticks up for “good guy” Josh Beckett

Who better to discuss the Red Sox trading Josh Beckett than a pitcher most fans would like to see leave Boston too?

John Lackey, who was one of Beckett’s best friends on the team, told Rob Bradford of WEEI.com that the trade was a good move for everyone involved because “it had gone too far here for him” and “I don’t think it would have ever come back.”

And then Lackey stuck up for Beckett:

It’s baffling to me people write things that don’t even know the man. Guys write stuff who don’t know Josh. He’s a good guy. It’s too bad that it came to that. They write about the Beckett Bowl (charity event), that we were partying and stuff, but they raised $300,000 for Children’s Hospital that night. Throw something in there positive.

If he’s sensitive to the criticism Beckett received from the Boston media I can’t even imagine how Lackey feels about his own treatment in the press. Or among fans. Or anyone, really.

And if the Red Sox could have dumped Lackey’s contract along with the Beckett and Carl Crawford deals they surely would have jumped at the chance. Instead they still owe the rehabbing right-hander $15.25 million in 2013 and the same amount in 2014.