Curt Schilling

Curt Schilling is hurt and his shoulder injury will keep him out of spring training and there are reports that he could either miss the entire season or that the injury will basically force his retirement from baseball.

On the surface there goes the idea of a 6-man rotation. However, I would suggest that perhaps the most prudent solution here would indeed be a 6-man starter rotation. I'd give Josh Beckett and Dice-K their regular turns but then parse out the rest of the starts to Tim Wakefield, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholtz and Julian Tavarez.

Follow my reasoning - Beckett is the Ace and you want him to get as many starts as possible and Dice-K wants to pitch as much as possible because he feels that's when he's most effective. Both pitchers should top 200 IP this year. Tim Wakefield is getting old (oh who are we kidding - he's not getting old - he IS old) and keeping his workload down is the best way to keep him effective. In regards to the young studs - Lester and Buchholtz - Tom Verducci recently had an excellent article on the dangers of over-using young pitchers. According to Verducci - the Red Sox should limit Clay Buchholtz to 178 IP this season and Lester to 183 IP. Buchholtz would have been starting at Pawtucket anyway but if you are going to limit his innings - isn't it best to get the most of those innings at the big league level?

That's where Julian Tavarez comes in. He can eat some innings and help keep Wakefield, Lester and Buchholtz fresh during the season. I mention Julian Tavarez but Terry Francona may prefer Kyle Snyder for the role of 6th starter. I wouldn't argue with that.

The available free agents aren't anything to get excited about. Either Tavarez or Snyder would be better options in my opinion. Joe Blanton is available. Would the Red Sox kick the tires there? I doubt it because why would the Red Sox give up 75% of the prospects it would have took to get Santana to get Joe Blanton who isn't 75% the pitcher Johan is? Perhaps the only free agent starter I'd take a gamble on is Josh Fogg because he'd probably come cheap and because he's from nearby Lynn, Mass.

One thing I'd like to stress is the fact that Schilling didn't sign a huge deal with the Red Sox - in fact he took a substantial discount to re-sign with Boston. It should also be pointed out that if Schilling is indeed out for the season then the Red Sox are in a very good position to eat that money. It is less money than they paid to Matt Clement who missed all of last season.

Schilling getting hurt was a surprise to the Red Sox. However, these "surprise" injuries happen all the time in baseball. The Red Sox are in position to hope that such a "surprise" happens to an outfielder for a contending team which would raise the stock in Coco Crisp to return a top starting pitching prospect. Then again - who's to say the outfielder injury doesn't happen to the Red Sox? In that case having Coco as insurance would be perfect.

If the injury is significant enough to end Schilling's career then the question has to be asked, "Is Curt Schilling a Hall of Fame pitcher?" That's a question I'll tackle later. I'm inclined to think because of his age and the past wear and tear (literally) on his arm and shoulder that Curt Schilling has pitched his last game for the Red Sox. If Schilling is able to come back then it will be a pleasant surprise for me. If not - thanks for being a great pitcher for the Red Sox Curt. Thanks for 2004. Thanks for 2007.