Stokes

Obviously Curt had a rough outing yesterday in Atlanta, and didn't top 90 on the radar gun. Just heard on WEEI that he is coming back to Boston for an MRI on his arm. Hopefully he just has a little dead arm and needs a break, nothing more.

Foley

Schilling since the allstar break last year: 11-8 4.37ERA 1.40WHIP. 205 hits allowed in 171 innings.

Even if he is experiencing some tired arm or something to that effect, he has been a mediocre pitcher for about a full season now. Expecting Schilling to be anything more than marginally above league average is expecting far too much of him. I certainly hope that I'm wrong and he starts pitching great from now on, but I'm pretty sure that Curt Schilling the Ace has turned into Curt Schilling the inconstant 4th starter.

TomBrady'sGoat

I think you're exaggerating the meaning of mediocre.

He has an ERA+ of 107 this year. He's better than league average. Is he an ace? Of course not. Does he give you a chance to win when he pitches? Yes. Thankfully the Sox already have Beckett and Daisuke and don't need Curt to be the ace.

Hopefully it's just a dead arm period. The health of the pitching staff allows the Sox to shut him down anyway. I doubt anyone expecting him to be healthy all season.

BradyManny

I think this is probably a depressing dose of reality.

To be honest, after what he did for us to get us the ring in 04, I could care less what he does for us the rest of the way. What he gave us last season was a huge bonus.

Even though I have a HUGE appreciation for him as a competitor and I truly admire him as a player, I think Curt Schilling has one of the most annoying public personas in sports. Without fully getting into how he annoys me with his off-the-field attention-whoring, let me just say he is a PR machine unto himself, so ridiculously concerned with his own self-image you'd think he was in politics. His most recent play, the "I'll still take the 13 mill even though I almost just pitched a no-hitter" only to be followed up by the revelation that he's been "hurt all year", seems like a good example of this. No wonder the guy wanted his extension so bad, he was in pain, and at his age, you never know if a given injury will be what breaks you down.

He really used his weekly visits to the EEI morning show to try and subtly play all of Boston against the Red Sox FO for not extending him.

Foley

I think mediocre is being a tad kind. After having a good April, Schilling has put up a 4.70ERA and 1.50WHIP since the start of May. That ERA is good for second worst among Red Sox starters in that time, while the WHIP is good for worst. Schilling's WHIP, OBA, BAA, k/9 and h/9 are either the worst or second worst marks of his career as a starter, and despite him holding the record for consecutive starts of at least 5IP, he has failed to do that twice this year.

He certainly still gives the team a chance to win and I haven't written him off yet, but right now he is performing like a 4th starter.

patsfanofNC12

Schilling has just gone on the DL after flying back to Boston to have an MRI done. Terry Francona said Schilling has been fighting tendinitis.

http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/news/ar...=.jsp&c_id=bos

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Danny Boy®

The latest report on Curt is that he drinks too many beers and spends too much time on his computer instead of working out.

Hey Curt, earn that contract for next year, lose some weight ya fat bastid!

Double G

I'll take my chances with Tavares (has there been a more underated/underappreciated pitcher on this team) and Lester anyday.

As others have pointed out, after 2004, anything he does is a bonus. Father time catches up to all pro atheletes at some point, looks like Curt is in "The twilight of his career."

The no hitter attempt seems to have taken alot of steam out of him, just like last year if I'm not mistaken against Baltimore when he threw something like 130 pitches and was toast for awhile afterward.

Looks like Theo made the right move by not resigning Pedro and Curt, to bad shortstop has been a complete FUBAR for the past three years..............

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Foley

If Lester replaces Schilling in the rotation and pitches well I'd love to see what they do when Schilling comes back. They won't bump Schilling out of the rotation, Tavarez has been fantastic (5-2, 3.45ERA, 1.35WHIP since his first 3 starts of the year) and shouldn't be bumped out, and if Lester does well I'd think they'd want to keep him up instead of moving him back and forth from Pawtucket to Boston. The obvious answer is to move Tavarez into the bullpen, but as of late hes been one of their better starters.

And if Tavarez is moved to the pen or Lester back to AAA, I wonder how much slack they give Schilling if he continues to struggle.

TomBrady'sGoat

I still think you're punishing Schilling unfairly when you compare him to A) his past, and B) the other Sox starters.

Mediocre wouldn't be starting for the Sox this year. Mediocre is a 4th starter on a bad team. I guess I'm just getting caught up on the word.

league average (or slightly above) has value. It's not worth $13M, but it has value. I'll happily take a 40-something Schilling as a #3 starter in the playoffs.