Schilling restates his case

He breaks camp silence at invitation-only chat

February 19, 2008|Gordon Edes, Globe Staff

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"I think there was some belief on their end that I was going to go off and do my own thing and have surgery on my own," Schilling said, "or something like that. I immediately assured everybody that I was talking to I would never do that, No. 1, and, No. 2, I couldn't do it legally, anyway."

Schilling said he began throwing in mid-December, felt some discomfort, shut down for a couple of weeks, then felt "intense" pain when he resumed throwing in January, far worse than anything he experienced last season, when he was on the disabled list for seven weeks with what was described at the time as biceps tendinitis. He did not point to a single episode as the cause of the pain, only that it was so severe he was unable to play catch.

Schilling likened his current situation to the first time he had shoulder surgery in 1995, when he said he was misdiagnosed by the Phillies and a team trainer recommended him to Morgan, who performed surgery on Schilling.

"Here I am, 14 years later, and he was right every time," Schilling said. "This guy has been cutting edge forever. He's always been way ahead of the bell curve. He's an orthopedic surgeon, but that's like saying he's a major league player. He's Papelbon, a specialist, a shoulder specialist, that's what he does.

"But they [Red Sox] disagreed. And at the end of the day, I hear one doctor say one thing, another doctor say something different, and a third doctor say something completely different. I'm probably as lost as anybody."

Schilling said he ultimately will need the surgery just to live a "normal" life. He said he had not yet given thought to attempting a return next year if he is unable to pitch in 2008.

Gordon Edes can be reached at edes@globe.com.

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