It’s hard to dispute that Josh Beckett’s arrival at spring training camp was among the most anticipated. Coming off a very serious surgery for a condition known as thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS), it had been reported that the 33-year-old Spring, Texas native was 100% healed and healthy and that he would have no restrictions on him whatsoever in camp.

The only problem is that Beckett’s permanent spot in the Dodgers starting rotation may have just been taken away from him with Saturday’s signing of left-handed free agent Paul Maholm.

…or has it?

Arriving two days late for spring training (with permission, as he was in a friend’s wedding party over the weekend), Beckett appeared to be in excellent shape. He is also fully aware of exactly where he stands with the team.

“I’m here to try to win a job and let the upper management take care of all the other stuff,” said the two-time World Series champion.

When asked if he would be willing to accept a bullpen role if it came to that, Beckett was extremely succinct with his answer.

“I want to be with the Dodgers,” Beckett said. “I felt like I was treated really good last year through everything and I’d like to help repay that.”

Beckett threw a 25-pitch bullpen session on Monday morning without any issues.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Beckett shared in detail what he has been dealing with for an extended period of time with his TOS.

“I didn’t have pain so it wasn’t like I was throwing through pain, I was throwing through like I didn’t want to kill somebody,” Beckett said. “It felt like you were going to throw it over the backstop, I had no idea where it was going to go.”

Asked when he first noticed the numbness in his throwing arm, Beckett surprised reporters with his answer.

“Years ago,” he answered. “Just with the numbness waking up, the tingling, I had some problems in that area with my neck, I think after putting everything all together it’s been a while but I wouldn’t know the exact first time.

“It would come and go, too,” added Beckett. “Last year was the first time it just stayed, there was nothing we could do. I took four or six weeks off – no throwing, no lifting, no doing anything and I went out and threw and it would come back immediately.”

Beckett said that the numbness and tingling got to the point to where it was constant most of last season.

“For my first two starts I felt okay and pretty much after that it just wasn’t good,” Beckett explained. He added that it got so bad that it affected even the simplest of tasks.

“Things that are very very simple, like driving with my right hand, I could not do,” said Beckett. “I remember calling (retired Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter who also had TOS surgery) and saying and being ecstatic after having surgery driving in Dallas, I was driving with my right hand. It’s kind of crazy but even simple things like that became difficult.”

Josh’s humor came out a little when he was asked if it affected his ability to brush his teeth.

“I don’t remember that being one of the things. I don’t know, maybe I don’t brush my teeth long enough,” he kidded.

Beckett made one thing very clear – he was extremely disappointed that the Dodgers fell short last season and feels somewhat responsible for that.

“If I had put a season together maybe we could have got even closer than we did,” said Beckett. “That was a big thing for me – if you don’t feel you’re part of the solution you feel you’re part of the problem. We ended up one game away from the World Series and that stings a little bit.”