Larry Brown Sports

Heads began to spin earlier this week when Curt Schilling said during an interview with ESPN Radio that a member of the Boston Red Sox organization encouraged him to use performance-enhancing drugs back in 2008. Most of us assumed the revelation would lead to a major investigation from Major League Baseball, but as it turns out the matter was already addressed — more than four years ago.

What Schilling didn’t mention in his interview is that he informed then-general manager Theo Epstein that the Red Sox employee — who has since been dismissed — suggested he use steroids to recover from an injury.

“Our office was notified,” MLB vice president Pat Courtney said Thursday, via the Boston Globe. “We take any report like this seriously and there was an investigation.”

Schilling told the Globe’s Peter Abraham that “two or three” investigators from the MLB went to speak to him at the time, and two baseball sources confirmed that the person no longer works for the team. The Red Sox have made several changes to their medical staff over the years, but none were believed to be a direct result of the 2008 investigation.

“I don’t remember who they were,” Schilling said. “I was trying to downplay the whole thing because I wasn’t playing at the time and I didn’t want to cause any problems in the clubhouse. Had I known Theo was going to report it to MLB, I would have never said anything. I was kind of mad that he had to do that.”

From the sound of it, Epstein and the Red Sox handled the situation exactly the way they should have. Schilling confirmed that the incident he spoke of on Thursday was the same one that was already addressed in 2008, which makes the story far less earth-shattering. Given his history of backtracking on topics and his passion for creating drama, you have to wonder if Schilling intentionally left out the fact that this is something the Red Sox have already taken care of. Now, all the headlines that read “Schilling: Red Sox told me to take steroids” don’t seem all that fair.

Photo credit: Greg M. Cooper-US PRESSWIRE

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Say what you will about Curt Schilling and his blowhard attitude, but at the time being we have no reason to believe he wasn’t one of the clean guys during a tainted generation. Schilling dominated throughout much of his career and had his fair share of injuries toward the end, but his name has not been linked to steroid use. According to the three-time World Series champion, it would have been if the Boston Red Sox had their way.

During an interview with Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio on Wednesday (via WEEI.com), Schilling said that members of the Red Sox organization encouraged him to use performance-enhancing drugs when he was recovering from an injury in 2008.

“At the end of my career, in 2008 when I had gotten hurt, there was a conversation that I was involved in in which it was brought to my attention that this is a potential path I might want to pursue,” Schilling said before noting that the people involved are no longer with Boston. “It was an incredibly uncomfortable conversation. Because it came up in the midst of a group of people. The other people weren’t in the conversation but they could clearly hear the conversation. And it was suggested to me that at my age and in my situation, why not? What did I have to lose? Because if I wasn’t going to get healthy, it didn’t matter. And if I did get healthy, great.

“It caught me off guard, to say the least. That was an awkward situation.”

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Curt Schilling’s financial struggles have been well-documented since his video game company, 38 Studios, filed for bankruptcy back in June. Schilling made more than $100 million during his 20-year Major League career, and he reportedly lost every dime of the roughly $50 million he invested in his company. As a result, he may have to pay off his debts using his own blood. No, seriously.

According to an Associated Press report (via the Boston Herald) Schilling listed his blood-stained sock from Boston’s 2004 World Series run as collateral to a bank that loaned him money. He also reportedly listed a hat that is said to have been worn by Lou Gehrig and his WWII memorabilia.

The state of Rhode Island lured Schilling and his company away from Massachusetts with a $75 million loan and is now on the hook for around $100 million as a result of 38 Studios going bankrupt. When Schilling let the baseball Hall of Fame put his famous sock on display, I highly doubt he envisioned he could someday have to part ways with it to help pay his debt. In many ways, it’s the perfect ending to a business deal that couldn’t have gone more sour.

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ESPN’s outstanding 30 for 30 series made a noteworthy return on Tuesday with the airing of “Broke,” a documentary about athletes losing their money. It was an excellent program and well worth a viewing no matter who you are.

The program touched on many different aspects of financial challenges facing athletes, and one area concerned family. It was in that section where former World Series MVP pitcher Curt Schilling shared what may have been the greatest anecdote from the entire program.

Schilling says he saw a greedy mother try to charge her successful son for raising him.

“I actually saw a player get a bill from his mother for $25,000 for raising him,” Schilling recalled. “It was on his birthday. It came with a tie, and it said, ‘if you’re not going to be a part of our lives, here’s your birthday present, and I would like you to pay me for having raised you in my home.’”

And here I was thinking that these were the greediest parents in the country. I guess I was wrong.

Once again, I highly recommend that you watch the documentary if you have a chance. As informative and cautionary as it was, I can still see many athletes following the same pattern as those who went broke before them. The reason is pretty simple: most don’t think it will ever happen to them.

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In a lot of ways, Josh Beckett became public enemy number one when the Red Sox went through their meltdown last season. Many believe he was the main force that pushed Terry Francona out the door, and it wouldn’t shock me if that was true. Beckett knows that, and he knows he will need to get along with Bobby Valentine this season in order for the Red Sox to be successful. That’s why when Curt Schilling said things weren’t going well between Valentine and the Boston players, Beckett was not happy.

“I haven’t seen him around this year,” Beckett said during an interview with WEEI Thursday. “Is he one of our pitchers? Like I haven’t seen him around this year. I didn’t know he was going to be one of our pitchers. I haven’t seen him around here. I’d think if somebody knew that much they’d probably be a little closer to it.

“Game’s a lot easier from over there (as a media person), I think. As far as him speaking about how things are being run, I haven’t seen him around here to where he would know that much.”

Beckett also added that things are going “great” with Valentine and that he likes some of the adjustments he has made with the pitching staff and their preparation. He said his legs have never felt this good coming out of spring training and credited it to the stretching and workouts Valentine has put into place.

Even if there were problems, Beckett wouldn’t admit it. The last thing the Sox want is the media feasting on perceived clubhouse issues before an inning of the regular season is in the books. There may be tension already and there may not be, but I think we can all agree that it will take a little more than the opinion of Schilling for us to believe Boston is in trouble.

Photo credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

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If the Red Sox don’t come out of the gate on fire this season, things could go south in a hurry. Although it is the Boston media’s job to make a mountain out of a molehill — especially in March — the general consensus surrounding the team seems to be that the Bobby Valentine era has not kicked off smoothly. During an interview with WEEI earlier this week, Curt Schilling claimed things are already not going well for Valentine and the Sox.

“I thought that the manager that managed the Mets that I was not a big fan of was now going to be a different manager, and I don’t think there’s anything different at all,” Schilling said as masslive.com pointed out. “And I don’t think that that is going to be conducive to doing well here. There’s a lot of things I think that are happening not just from his perspective, but when you talk to these guys — and I’m still talking to some of these guys — I don’t think this is going well. And I think it’s going bad quicker than I expected it to.”

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Albert Pujols is scheduled to be a free agent for the first time after completing his existing contract with the Cardinals. The sides were unable to agree on an extension before the season, putting Albert in a difficult spot. He’s worth a lot of money, and he wants to remain with the Cardinals, but it will be hard for St. Louis to keep him if he wants to be paid more than any player in baseball. Former pitcher and current analyst Curt Schilling isn’t sure Pujols is even worth that.

“I’m not sure if eight years … you’re talking about a $200-$250 million deal if the numbers are to be believed. They’re some questions in my mind if this is a 25 or 30 million dollar [player],” Schilling said after the World Series ended. “[He's the] best offensive player in the game — not for a second do I question that. But if I’m going to pay a guy $25-$30 million, I need everything.

“I need that clubhouse presence. I need that guy who stands in front of the media win or lose and doesn’t shirk that stuff off to his teammates. I was a little disappointed after the Game 2 situation. Regardless of what happened, you’re a leader. I don’t want my teammates to have to field questions about me.

“The Alex Rodriguez contract, I don’t think is coming out to be a very good thing for the Yankees and the future of that organization. He’s going to hamstring somebody by signing a contract. If [Pujols] does it [in St. Louis] he’s got the surrounding cast. He goes somewhere else, that might not be the case.”

The A-Rod contract is an argument against paying big money for a slugger in his thirties, but Pujols has always been more consistent than Rodriguez. Still it’s hard to argue with Schilling; when it comes to big-money, long-term contracts, it’s difficult to say a player will be worth the money every year. As good as Pujols is (and I’d love to have him on the Angels), it’s hard to envision him being worth $25 or $30 million in 2018 or 2019 when he’s 38 and 39 years old. That’s what St. Louis has to evaluate when they negotiate with him.

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