Schilling says he'll pitch in 2008 season

[Blitz]

BOSTON (AP) - Curt Schilling said Monday he will not retire at the end of the 2007 season as previously indicated and plans to pitch for the Boston Red Sox in 2008.

The 40-year-old Schilling made his comments on WEEI-AM radio and confirmed them to The Associated Press.

The right-hander's contract with the Red Sox ends after the 2007 season, but he said he was in discussions for an extension. If he can't work out a deal in Boston, he will pitch for another team - but not the New York Yankees.

"I'm in discussions with the Red Sox, we had talked last week and there's a lot going on obviously right now, but where I'm going to play beyond 2007 ... I hope it's Boston," he told the radio station. "This is where I want to play and in the days leading up to spring training we'll figure it out one way or the other. If I go into this season without a contract from the Red Sox then I will go out and find a home for 2008."

Schilling told the station he decided to play beyond the 2007 season after discussions with his family.

Schilling was 15-7 with a 3.97 ERA last season, striking out 183 and walking 28 in 204 innings.

He is 207-138 with a 3.44 ERA in a 19-year career with stops in Baltimore, Houston, Philadelphia, Arizona and Boston, where he has played the last three seasons.

Schilling, 21-6 in 2004, had a detached tendon in his right ankle temporarily sutured into place so he could pitch in the playoffs, helping the Red Sox win their first World Series since 1918. The ankle was surgically repaired after the season.

 

[2muchchalk]

never

never

i never believe anything out of his mouth anyway. As soon as he said that i knew it was bs. He just talks to hear himself talk.

LIke the comment,he will never play for the yankees. Wait till he is a free agent and the yanks offer a Randy Johnson like deal when he is done with Boston. He is going to refuse that deal. yeah right.

 

[shawn555]

i never believe anything out of his mouth anyway. As soon as he said that i knew it was bs. He just talks to hear himself talk.

LIke the comment,he will never play for the yankees. Wait till he is a free agent and the yanks offer a Randy Johnson like deal when he is done with Boston. He is going to refuse that deal. yeah right.

couldnt agree more. He is a blowhard. I thought he said he was mulling running against Kerry?? He is so full of it.

 

[IE]

some interesting quotes..from BP


COME ON CURT, WHAT WOULD GEHRIG DO?

"That's the way everything happens in this town, but they know I'm not doing that. Perception outside of the Red Sox and myself is uncontrollable for us. I've talked to Mr. Henry and Theo and we talked on this before it got public. We're all in a good place."
--Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling

"I think there's things that you write that are absolutely and totally unequivocally uncalled for. I think you take personal vendettas to the paper. I think you rip people in the paper because you don't like them whether they're good people or not. As an athlete, that bothers me, but as a teammate of these people, it bothers me even more . . . I certainly came in with a little bias, but I don't think that given what's happened that it's unmerited."
--Schilling, addressing Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy.

"As hard as it is for some people in your business to believe, I don't enjoy talking to the media. I don't look forward to being in front of you guys.... I find it ironic how people in the media say, 'I've been pretty nice to you,' as if they've gone out of their way to write things that are nice about me as if I'm not a nice person. I'm a good person. I don't wish hateful things on people. I don't hate anybody. I know that I treat people right. I've made mistakes and I've said dumb things, but I wouldn't think people have to go to extra effort to make me out to be a nice guy."
--Schilling

"You don't know me beyond what you see in the clubhouse and what you've heard other people say about me. We'll never sit down and have a beer together because we both have families and we're too busy. We're going to know each other as well as a player and a member of the media know each other. And in the scope of things, that's not very deep. You've kind of got to go on what you can see and hear and what people tell you. I go on what I read."
--Schilling (Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe)

 

[bogdog]

We all know he is a good pitcher, BTJ says he is a better Catcher!

:shrug: :142hump: :s8:

 

[Old School]

Updated: Feb. 22, 2007, 7:09 PM ET
Schilling to file for free agencyAssociated Press

Schilling

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Curt Schilling said he will become a free agent after the season and won't let that distract him during his fourth year with the Boston Red Sox.

General manager Theo Epstein wouldn't rule out in-season discussions for a new contract.

At a brief meeting between the two Wednesday, Epstein told the pitching ace that the team would not give him an extension during spring training, as Schilling had wished.

"Curt's going to be 41, and at that age we've got to be a little more conservative," Epstein said Thursday. "It doesn't mean we don't want him back. I have all the confidence in the world that if Curt wants to pitch in 2008 and he's still pitching effectively, as I expect he will, then we'll find a way to keep him in a Red Sox uniform."

Epstein also said Schilling will be the Opening Day starter April 2 in Kansas City and "I couldn't be happier about that."

Schilling said he didn't warn the Red Sox that it might cost them more to sign him after the season. Even if they want to keep him, he could still leave.

"I'll consider anything at that point," he said.

Schilling struggled late last season and went 15-7 with a 3.97 ERA. Bothered by injuries in 2005, he was 8-8 with a 5.69 ERA. But in 2004, his first season with Boston, he was 21-6 with a 3.26 ERA and a star of Boston's World Series sweep of St. Louis.

Late last month, Schilling said he wanted to play in 2008 after stating previously that he would retire after the 2007 season. Schilling, who represents himself, also said he would play for the same amount he's making this year, $13 million, but he wouldn't negotiate after Opening Day.

On Thursday, he said he was "disappointed" but understood the club's position. He also said he would not negotiate with the Red Sox during the 15 days following the World Series, when they are the only club allowed to discuss money with him.

"I will file for free agency at the end of the season and they know that," Schilling said. "I'm going to get ready for Opening Day and this is not going to change anything that I do or how I do it."

Manager Terry Francona, who also managed Schilling in Philadelphia, indicated the pitcher could alter his stance.

"He was also going to retire," Francona said. "You know what I'm saying. Things change."

Schilling became the first Red Sox pitcher to pitch batting practice on Thursday, throwing about 40 pitches to minor-leaguers Jeff Corsaletti, Jeff Natale and Andrew Pinckney.

"It's a business, and I get that," Schilling said. "I woke up, the sun came up today and I'm getting after it."

He also said he won't let the uncertainty about the 2008 season distract him or give him any more motivation.

"The best three years of my career -- '97, 2001, 2004 -- were all first year of multiyear contracts," Schilling said. "I don't pitch for contracts."

He signed a $37.5 million, three-year contract before the 2004 season after leaving Arizona as a free agent. A $13 million option for 2007 became guaranteed because the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series.

"Regardless of whether he's signed for 10 years or one month, he will pitch like he's always pitched," Francona said, "give you everything he has."

Schilling said his meeting with Epstein on Wednesday lasted about three minutes and followed other discussions in which contract details were discussed.

"There was no offer," Schilling said. "He asked me if I wanted the long story or the short story and I said, 'Give me the short one.' So it was quick."

Schilling is the No. 1 starter in a strong rotation that includes three 26-year-old right-handers -- Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Jonathan Papelbon. Tim Wakefield, 40, is the fifth starter. Boston also has promising lefty Jon Lester, 23, who appears close to full strength after offseason treatment for anaplastic large cell lymphoma.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press