Just five days before Opening Night against the NY Yankees, ESPN.com reporter Buster Olney reports that contract negotiations between the Red Sox and RHP Josh Beckett have progressed to the point that there is optimism a deal will be finalized in the next week or two.
Olney cites sources close to Beckett as saying the right-hander has a four-year, guaranteed offer on the table from the team. While the source didn’t provide specifics of the proposal the club has made, it’s widely expected to mirror the deal signed by free-agent John Lackey this winter. That deal, which averaged $16.5 million annually for five years, contains language that protects the ball club in case he (Beckett) should suffer an injury.
ESPNBoston.com reporter Gordon Edes recently reported Beckett had demanded a fifth year be added to the deal (above and beyond the year currently remaining on the soon-to-expire, three-year $30 M contract extension signed at the end of 2006), but that the Red Sox would not make a commitment of that length.
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