Schill Airs it Out on the Air
August 5, 2004: Curt Schilling on 105.7-FM WROR: Loren or Wally (who the hell knows) "In all of this it seems like the fans overwhelmingly are backing the management* on this whole thing here?"
Curt Schilling: "I'm not sure, when it's all said and done, how you can't. I mean when you look at what's happened, what was said, and what was done... he was leaving. He was leaving at the end of the year and I think that people need to really focus on that. He was leaving and I don't know the details. The other thing was it was very evident that he was going to need some time off in the next couple of weeks to be able to play in September. So you had Nomar for 35-40 more games, Pokey Reese or Rickey Gutierrez filling in, and then he was a free agent. Theo was up against the wall and Nomar even stated a couple of different times, I read a response to a couple of questions that people were bringing up to him about coming back late and tanking it and all that other crap that people were trying to accuse him of and he said 'listen, why would I want to sit out and not play when I was going into free agency.' So he's basically saying he was going to be a free agent. So it's very clear and very evident. I'm not shocked people are stunned. I'm not shocked that people are emotional on both sides of the fence because of where we're playing, but if you're rational about this, this guy was going to be a free agent, didn't want to come back, and the team made a move to do the best that they could without letting him walk for nothing."
*(In a Boston Globe SportsPlus poll of over 21,000 Red Sox fans surveyed, 68% said they believed Larry Lucchino's account of Nomar Garciaparra's departure while 32% said they believed the shortstop's version of the events).
Loren or Wally: "Do you feel Curt that the team is better off..(CS: Yeah)...no difference to..(CS: Yes we are)...yeah OK...in what aspect that's what I'm interested in?"
Curt Schilling: "In all aspects. I think he's better off, and I think it's obvious by everything that's been said, I think this is what in the end he wanted. And this is, in the end, probably better for us. There's no gray... there's no black cloud in the sense that there's speculation about 'Is he playing or is he not playing? Why isn't he playing? Why isn't he doing this? And why isn't he doing that?' You don't have that throng of media and those questions to deal with on a daily basis.
..."To be honest, it's not that big of a deal (being honest about injuries, condition), in the sense that people get lauded today for doing things quote unquote "the way they're supposed to be done." I'm not sure when that became such a rarefied thing." You play the game hard, you're gonna be sore. You're gonna be uncomfortable. But unless you're hurt, you do what you have to do. It always went back onto Nomar, whether he was hurt or not. I don't doubt for a second he was hurting, I mean everything I've ever heard... I only got to see Nomar play for a brief period of time but you're talking about a guy who's going to the Hall of Fame if he stays healthy. I saw a guy that was not playing Hall of Fame defense and I think that a lot of that had to do with is mobility."
Loren or Wally: "What about on the money issue here, do you feel that what he turned down from the Red Sox, is he possibly going to get that as a free agent?"
Curt Schilling: "Oh I don't know, I mean another clear, clear indicator that this wasn't where he was going to want to be and uh (LoW: "he turned down a lot of money) well then that's prerogative, he's played a long time and he's earned the right to dictate what he makes. People in everyday life get to do that. You have to be one of the minute, minute percentage in the game that can play six years to have that ability and my understanding is everything has come out now, they offered him a lengthy extension again this spring, close to $15 million a year, and given the shortstop market and where Jeter is, and where A-Rod is, Nomar felt he deserved to be somewhere else, and you know what? That's his prerogative."
Loren or Wally: "I like the fact that you said "lookit, it wasn't going to be in the cards for him to be here anyway, so everything else is moot really,"
Schilling: "Well right, and again, that doesn't make him the wrong guy, or the team bad people, it's business. But people want to paint this picture with such a different brush. He was leaving. He acknowledges that. And the team understood that. And Theo did what he thought was best. Are we better with Nomar playing the last 60 games of the season and being himself? Absolutely. But he admitted it. He's not himself. He hasn't been and he doesn't know if he's gonna be for the rest of the year."
Loren or Wally: "How you feeling about the rest of the season now?"
Schilling: "Better, I mean, we gotta play better. We can't lose games like we lost yesterday and we've been saying that for four months, there's two months to go, and it's time for us to play and win, and put up, and shut up."
(On Bronson Arroyo) "Phenomenal. He's at the stage in his career where he doesn't have a ton of experience performance wise. It's live and learn for him right now. He's gotta take what happened last night and find a way to make sure that he understands those situations the next time he gets in there. He's basically been an anchor. He's pitched his ass off for the last 8-10 weeks and he doesn't have anything to show for it, but baseball people know how well he's done and that's probably the most important thing. The fact of the matter is we gotta win those games and what happened yesterday was unfortunate."
Loren or Wally: "How's your ankle?"
Schilling: "My ankle's been good. I said all year long, after the couple of starts we were goofing around and trying to figure out what to do, it doesn't bother me on the mound. When it did before, I was getting injections so it wasn't hurting and we, knock on wood, kind of stabalized some things right now. We're just hoping that everything plays out and holds out throughout the season and then we'll address it and fix it in the winter time."
Loren or Wally: "Pedro had a good outing last time."
Schilling: "He pitched awesome (LoW: I see a story in one of the papers the day after saying, one of the little sub-headlines saying 'Pedro needs to do more.' my God, what else can he do?)...well that's called Boston. And that's, in one sense, that's part of the allure. And that's part of the nightmare of being on the team. I mean you're pitching and playing in a place that sets borderline unrealistic expectations (LoW: You're under the microscope man)... yeah, I mean I love that from an accountability standpoint. I know I'm going to do what I need to do to take the ball every fifth day and be as prepared as I can be. The scrutiny (editor's note: what freaking scrutiny is this guy is talking about... people are barely paying attention, it's all Pats double sessions talk around here) and the microscope is gonna make sure other people do that, so you don't have to babysit your teammates as much. Other guys are going to be held accountable... they're much less more accountable as players here than most places I've been 'cause everybody wants to fire the manager, behead the manager, have a new coaching staff every other week."
