Shame on me for not articulating this more clearly in the original column yesterday, but I wanted to quickly clarify a couple things — particularly for anybody who may have been redirected here by the hilarious folks at Barstool Sports. I do not mean to suggest, nor do I believe, that the Red Sox are so vastly inferior to the Yankees that the gap between the teams is hopelessly insurmountable. And I do not mean to suggest, nor do I believe, that Josh Beckett is anything but an excellent major league pitcher. (If I didn't, I wouldn't think he'd be so valuable in trade.)

But I don't think it's debatable that the Red Sox have some work to do in order to catch up to the Yankees — or that the Sox should try to close that gap as quickly as possible. And that's where Beckett comes in. He's got one year left on his contract, so he could be gone after next year anyway, and at 29 he's probably the Sox player other teams would most covet other than Jon Lester and maybe Dustin Pedroia. In other words, I think Theo could potentially turn his No. 2 starter (sorry, the 14th best ERA in the 14-team AL does not automatically make you an ace) into a solution at shortstop, at clean-up hitter, at the back of the rotation — or maybe all three at once.

Ideally, I'd like them to keep Beckett and address those concerns by spending in free agency. But the fact of the matter is that the Sox don't do very well when simply opening up the wallet. Look at the 2009 roster: Their best players were brought in by trade (Martinez, Bay, Lowell, Beckett) or developed internally (Youkilis, Pedroia, Lester, Ellsbury, Papelbon). JD Drew had a good year, but he's the exception to the rule of free agency failure that has seen them — in this past season alone — write empty checks for guys like Lugo, Smoltz and Penny.

In the next 13 months the Sox could potentially lose Bay, Beckett, Martinez and Lowell; and a year after that Papelbon and Drew could be gone, too. That's a lot of talent to replace, particularly for a team that is already chasing the rival that just beat it by 8 games in the division race. If I had faith the Sox could simply use that freed money to fill those holes, and do it effectively, I'd be all for Beckett staying — but I don't. They don't identify free-agent targets very well. And the Yankees won't let their archenemy outspend them for the elite commodities (see: Teixeira, Mark). That's why I think it's time to cash in on Beckett's reputation, get heaps of talent in return, and kickstart the rebuilding of a club that's going to look quite a bit different in a couple years.

By the way, let me know if you'd like to borrow any slightly used tin foil. I've been saving up.