Red Sox Features On wbztv.com
Feb 18, 2008 5:16 pm US/Eastern
Schilling: 'I May Never Pitch Again'
FORT MYERS, Fla. (WBZ) ―
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Curt Schilling spoke to reporters in Ft. Myers Monday.
WBZ
Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling spoke to the media for the first time Monday since he was diagnosed with a bad shoulder. He said he's very aware he may never pitch again.
He told WBZ's Dan Roche he is at the park every day at 6:30 a.m. to go through his physical rehab and says everything has gone fine so far, although he's very limited in what he's doing.
Schilling has an injured shoulder tendon. The team physician believes the tendon is damaged, not torn, and rehabilitation gives him his best chance to play this year.
However, Schilling's doctor has said he needs surgery if he wants to pitch again.
"I had three different doctors tell me three completely different things with three completely different courses of action," Schilling said, adding that he had to abide by his contract under the collective bargaining agreement and do what the Red Sox felt was best.
"From a medical standpoint, they get to dictate how and when things are supposed to happen."
Team owner John Henry said he thought rehabilitation was the best treatment and, from what he's heard, there's "a reasonably good chance" that Schilling will pitch this season.
The club and the pitcher hope he can return around the All-Star break.
"He shouldn't be upset because we're trying to do what's in the best interests of Curt and the team," Henry said. "So I heard the arguments and I felt we were doing the right thing."
Roche asked Schilling if he believed the rest and rehab will work.
"I have to. I don't have any choice," he said. "If their course of action doesn't work I don't pitch this year. I may never pitch again."
"I'm disappointed that after 21 years my career might end like this," Schilling said. "But it is what it is."
He signed a one-year, $8 million contract in November that allows him to earn an additional $5 million in performance and weight bonuses. The 41-year-old right-hander has said that this will be his last year.
Schilling said he passed all physical exams when he negotiated his new contract.
"If some people want to believe that this was me taking advantage of a situation financially, I wouldn't have done it here. I would have done it for $14 million in at least two other places, if I was going to sit my a-- on the D.L. and collect a paycheck."
Schilling said he's in the early stages of the rehab program, so he's not able to push hard yet. But when that time comes, he said they should know quickly if it's working.
"I think if it's what we believe it to be and what Dr. Morgan (Schilling's doctor) thinks, I don't think it will take a long time to get to that place where we realize this probably isn't going to work."
Schilling said he will eventually have the surgery so he can live a pain-free life.
"If I never pitch again, as disappointing as it may be, I have no regrets about everything I've been able to experience."
"It doesn't always work out the way you want it to."
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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