It didn’t end well, but Josh Beckett made his mark in Boston

Beckett was the second overall pick of the 1999 draft behind the ill-fated Josh Hamilton, and made it to the majors in 2001.

In 2003, at the age of 23, Beckett stuffed the Yankees in Game 6 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium. The Marlins won the game, 2-0, but it felt like 8-0 with the way he pitched.

Beckett threw a 107-pitch shutout on short rest, then laughed off questions about whether it was an upset. To him, the Yankees were just another team to beat.

When Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein was on strike (or whatever you call it) in 2005, the Marlins traded Beckett and Mike Lowell to the Red Sox for a package of prospects led by Hanley Ramirez.

Beckett’s 2007 season ranks among the most significant in Red Sox history. Beckett was 20-7 with a 3.27 earned run average, then plowed through the postseason, winning all four of his starts. He allowed four runs over 30 innings with two walks and 35 strikeouts. The Red Sox don’t win the World Series that season without him.

Beckett pitched very well in 2009 and again in 2011. But he became the face of what was wrong with the Red Sox by the end of his tenure in Boston. He was surly, unaccountable, and maybe even a bad influence on the other pitchers, depending on your view. The Sox finally dumped him on the Dodgers in 2012, forcing Los Angeles to take his unwanted contract to get Adrian Gonzalez.

I always thought Beckett was a decent guy masquerading as a heel. Being difficult was more of a hobby for him than anything else. Plenty of athletes claim they don’t care what fans think about them, but Beckett was serious. If you think that made him a bad guy, that’s not incorrect. But at least he was honest about it.

Beckett has two rings, 138 wins, and roughly $116 million to show for 14 seasons. His talent suggests he should have been better than he was, but he’ll surely return to Texas without many regrets.

If Manny Ramirez can come back to Fenway Park and get cheered, anything is possible. But if there’s ever a Josh Beckett Day at Fenway, it’ll only be because he was bored, and that’s probably not happening any time soon. Texas has plenty of critters for him to hunt and beers to drink.

A few other thoughts and observations about the Red Sox:

■   Incoming commissioner Rob Manfred needs to fix September roster expansion. It’s silly that baseball is played under one set of rules for five months, and then in the critical month of September, some teams have 28 players and others have 38.

John Farrell has an easy solution. Teams can expand rosters all they want, all the way to 40. But before every series, teams must designate 28 players on the active roster for however many games the series will last. That will make September games better — and more equitable to those teams trying to make the playoffs.

■   It’s that time of the year for trade proposals, and few are realistic. Love the notion that the Red Sox should try to trade for Giancarlo Stanton, Chris Sale, Cole Hamels, or some other star player but at the same time retain Mookie Betts, Blake Swihart, and Henry Owens. Other teams should give up their stars, but be willing to take second-tier Red Sox prospects in return, apparently.

You’re not going to get an All-Star player without giving up something that’s going to hurt. The Red Sox are deep enough in prospects to absorb some pain. Beyond that, who can say for sure how good any of the prospects will be? Xander Bogaerts had a .660 OPS and committed 20 errors this season after being projected for stardom by this outlet and many others.

Somebody has to go for this team to get better.

■   Prediction: The Red Sox will contrive a “pursuit” of Jon Lester around the time of the Winter Meetings so they can claim they tried to get him back when he signs elsewhere. But Lester has already outmaneuvered them in the court of public opinion.

■   Brock Holt was one of the few pleasant surprises of this season and he surely has earned a spot on the roster for next year. But it should be as a utility player, not a starter. Holt hit .327/.371/.462 before the All-Star break in 279 plate appearances and .219/.278/.271 in 213 plate appearances after the All-Star break.

Holt has 27 doubles and four home runs in 156 career major league games. The Red Sox need more pop out of their third baseman, especially given the team’s inability to score this season.

■   John Lackey, Andrew Miller, and Jake Peavy are still pitching in the postseason. Based on feedback via Twitter, plenty of Red Sox fans are rooting for Peavy to get back to the Series. Meanwhile, Lackey has a 2.92 ERA in 20 career playoff games (111 innings). He is 4-1 in his last five postseason starts. He starts Game 3 of the NLCS for the Cardinals.

■   It doesn’t seem like a good sign for the Red Sox that getting rid of Allen Craig was a significant improvement for the Cardinals. Maybe this was simply a down season put in motion by a lingering foot injury. But St. Louis also may have known what it was doing.

■   The Red Sox will start the process of hiring a hitting coach next week. One goal for the new guy should be to convince David Ortiz to start going the other way again. According to stats maven Bill Chuck, Ortiz averaged 27 opposite-field hits from 2011-13 with roughly half going for extra bases. In 2014, Ortiz had 14 opposite-field hits with four of them doubles and one a homer. If teams are going to aggressively shift against Ortiz, he has to at least try to beat it.

■   The Lowell Spinners will have their annual Hot Stove Dinner on Jan. 17 at the UMass-Lowell Inn & Conference Center. Trot Nixon will be the guest. A variety of awards will be given out and other special guests will be on hand. It’s a fun night that raises money for the team’s charity.

Tickets ($75) are on sale now at LowellSpinners.com or by calling 978-459-1702. The price includes dinner, autographs, auctions, and Q&A sessions with the guests.

Peter Abraham can be reached at pabraham@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @peteabe.