Schilling's shoulder

I guess whatever miraculous healing power Curt Schilling used on his ankle doesn't work for shoulders.

Or maybe they test for it now.

Either way, it looks like Schilling is out until at least the All-Star Break, if not the year. Or his career could be over.

I have two reasons to hate Schilling - 2001 World Series, 2004 ALCS. But I also have two reasons not to hate him - I like that he has a game design company (yes, I'm a geek), and I like that he has done so much to fight ALS, even naming his son Gehrig.

So on balance those cancel out.

No, not really. Fuck him and his ketchup-leaking ankle. Why couldn't anyone try to drop a bunt on that pudgy gimp? Ridiculous. But at least I'll be able to hate him a lot less if his career is over.

What I'm really wondering today is how Red Sox fans feel about him right now. They all loved him and his bloody sock. They loved his trash-talking on his blog and Sons of Sam Horn. But you have to wonder how they would have gone about their business this off-season if they'd known they might be without Schilling this year.

The Red Sox certainly wouldn't have signed Schilling to that $8 million one-year contract if they knew his shoulder tendon looked like "three strands of spaghetti." (What's it supposed to look like, rigatoni?) And even if they had signed him to a bargain-basement contract, they could have insisted on surgery back in November.

But would they have been more aggressive in going after Johan Santana, Erik Bedard or Dan Haren?

Red Sox fans are saying the loss of Schilling is no big deal, they only gave him 150 innings and 9 wins last year. But there's a big difference between having a starting rotation of four veterans and one rookie, and three veterans and two rookies - especially when one of those veterans is Tim Wakefield, who also battled shoulder problems last year. Josh Beckett is unquestionably an ace, and Daisuke Matsuzaka should be better after adjusting to the league last year. But after that? They can turn within and try Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, Devern Hansack and/or Kyle Snyder. The Yankees tried the rookie-of-the-month rotation the first half of last year and it didn't work so well, so good luck with that.

More likely they'll trade for a veteran - maybe Joe Blanton, but you know Billy Beane isn't going to just give him away - or sign whoever is still out there. Bartolo Colon, Kris Benson, Steve Trachsel, Shawn Chacon... Yeah, it's ugly.

I don't want to oversell the loss of Schilling - no one is suggesting you can now write the Red Sox off. But it certainly changes the dynamic heading into 2008. And if I was a Red Sox fan, I'd rather have known about Schilling in November, instead of a week before pitchers and catchers report.