Josh Beckett has declared himself ahead of schedule after thoracic outlet syndrome surgery and expects to be ready for the start of spring training.

The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired Beckett in a blockbuster trade with the Boston Red Sox a year ago.

"There's still some hurdles to get over, but I feel really good for where I'm at," Beckett said. "We were looking at eight weeks before I started throwing again, and I beat that by about two weeks. So we're ahead of schedule right now. I don't think anybody was expecting that, so everything's going good. But I think we'll know more probably when I begin my bullpens. December's going to be long, so I'd like to get over those mental blocks now. It's something to look forward to."

Beckett was 0-5 with a 5.19 ERA in his first eight starts this season before going in the disabled list in mid-May.