Schilling re-signs with Red Sox

Curt Schilling was 9-8 with a 3.87 earned run average in 24 starts last season.

Boston, MA  - Curt Schilling will remain with the Red Sox for the 2008 season, as the veteran right-hander inked a one-year contract to likely end his major league career.

The announcement was made by Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein and Schilling elaborated on the deal on his Web site, saying he passed an MRI on Tuesday.

Schilling said the deal has a guaranteed base salary of $8 million with $2 million in bonuses tied to six separate weigh-ins. Schilling said the clause was inserted because “being overweight and out of shape are two different things. I was also completely broad-sided by the fact that your body doesn’t act/react the same way as you get older.”

Schilling, who will turn 41 next Wednesday, said he and his wife, Shonda, agreed they wanted no more than a one-year deal.

“We wanted to stay here,” Schilling posted on his Web site. “So while there will be points of debate, they’ll all miss the point. We got EXACTLY what we wanted, and then some. This is where we want our career to come to a close. This city, this team. This is where we want to retire, raise our kids, and walk away. We got it, all of it, and more.”

The Astros, Diamondbacks and Phillies also contacted Schilling after he filed for free agency, but in the end, Schilling said money was still a factor.

“Saying it’s not ‘about the money is a lie too,” Schilling said on his Web site. “Both sides have a price, at some number I was not a viable option for the Red Sox, and at another number the Sox might have become a non-contender to us, but we both wanted this to happen and it did.”

Schilling was 9-8 with a 3.87 earned run average in 24 starts last season, but was 3-0 with a 3.00 ERA in four postseason games. He is 11-2 all-time in the playoffs.

During his career, Schilling has posted a 216-146 record with a 3.46 ERA, having also pitched for Baltimore, Houston, Philadelphia and Arizona. The six- time All-Star and co-MVP of the 2001 World Series when he was with the Diamondbacks missed 1 1/2 months last season due to tendinitis in his shoulder.

Schilling ended his posting, pushing the Red Sox to re-sign third baseman Mike Lowell, MVP of the 2007 World Series sweep of Colorado.

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