Curt Schilling just told WEEI that he will be filing for free agency after the season because the Red Sox have informed him they won’t negotiate during spring training or the season.
It is curious considering the Red Sox have executed their fair share of extensions during the past few seasons, such as Coco Crisp, David Ortiz, and Josh Beckett. This may be early posturing, but it also might be Boston simply deciding that business-wise it is smarter to wait out the 40-year-old pitcher’s season and take their chances.
Schilling will be talking after the morning workout, so we’ll be in touch.
To update what is going on out on the field … Schilling will be throwing batting practice on Field 5 and is warming up as we speak. The starting infield, along with Alex Cora, was taking grounders. Cora was talking about his contract earlier today and had a good point — he was very fortunate that the Red Sox came in so strong, so early and he was able to get something done. Look at what happened to Ronnie Belliard, who had to sign a non-guaranteed minor league deal with Washington after having a pretty decent year with Cleveland and St. Louis.
In other early news …just before leaving the clubhouse just now, Dustin Pedroia looked in his locker at the small box strength and conditioning coach Dave Page had placed there and said, “What’s that.” Eric Hinske informed the second baseman that it was a small, round clip that the players could put on the laces of their cleats to chart how many calories they have burned during the workout. Page is earning his money this spring training, that’s for sure.
Pedroia has remarkably small hands (especially in comparison to Wily Mo Pena’s mitts). While it might not be advantageous for hitting (he did drop from a 33 1/2 bat to a 33 this season), he said it does help in fielding his position. It makes sense considering second basemen usually try and find the smallest gloves possible for some sort of control.
And this just in … David Murphy has been able to keep his well-documented 15 pounds of muscle on. He is also more optimistic about getting off to a better start this season, having got some pointer from Jim Rice recently about shortening his swing. He suffered through a four-strikeout game in the last year’s first spring training game, but rebounded to have a pretty solid spring.
Also, if you didn’t check out Julian Tavarez’s back-story in the Eagle-Tribune today, do so. The thing that blew me away was that he never once went to any kind of school growing up … ever.
Get your questions in and I’ll track them down for later today …
