Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling filed for free agency yesterday, after telling a radio audience that "there's a very realistic chance I won't ever play" for the team again.
Schilling is probably correct, a club source said yesterday, unless he is willing to accept a low base salary loaded with incentive bonuses. In a free agent market short on starting pitching, the source said, Schilling can expect to receive a better offer elsewhere. He was paid $13 million by the Red Sox this season.
Asked if Schilling would be back, the team source said, "I don't think so. We have such a strong nucleus of pitching with Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Jon Lester, and Clay Buchholz. We'll talk about it. We'll be reasonable. We'll see what happens."
The source said he expects the team to pick up the $4 million rolling option it holds on 41-year-old knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, who said yesterday he expects to undergo an arthrogram (a diagnostic test using X-rays and dye) on his right shoulder next week. A 17-game winner this season, Wakefield represents a bargain in a market in which starting pitchers commanded eight-figure salaries last winter.
Schilling, who turns 41 Nov. 14, was one of four Red Sox who filed for free agency yesterday. The others were pitcher Matt Clement, who missed the entire season after undergoing shoulder surgery; outfielder Bobby Kielty, whose pinch-hit home run accounted for the deciding run in Game 4 of the World Series; and utilityman Eric Hinske, whose $5.8 million salary this season was split between the Sox and Toronto Blue Jays.
During his weekly radio appearance on WEEI, Schilling said he had written letters of goodbye to some teammates, another indication the righthander is braced for the end of a four-year run that resulted in two World Series titles.
"A one-year deal is all I'm looking for," said Schilling, who was 9-8 with a 3.87 ERA this season and won three starts in the postseason, in his radio appearance. "If truly, physically, I was at the end of my rope, this would be the ultimate way to walk away. I don't think I'm there."
Posting on his blog last night, Schilling listed 12 teams "after Boston that have some of the off the field things that are big to us [his family], plus the potential to go into October next year."
The dozen that make the cut: Cleveland, Detroit, Anaheim, New York Mets, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Diego, Arizona, Chicago Cubs, St. Louis, Milwaukee. Interestingly, Tampa Bay - which Schilling earlier this year had stated he was open to pitching for - was not listed.
