Epic Drop: Top 10 "Must Haves" For Curt Schilling's Next Team

The list is here, and if I can be serious in talking about Curt Schilling's favorite subject for a second here...

I can not, for the life of me, see why he wants another year. He's 216-146 for his career; he's not going to get to any kind of meaningful milestone in 2008. Given his post-season success and major media market work, he's going to Cooperstown already -- and my distaste for his mouth and politics notwithstanding, deservedly so. He compares very favorably to Don Drysdale who is in, plus he's got the 10-2 lifetime postseason record and the three championship rings. Some people think he's the best post-season starting pitcher of all time, which seems to me to be forgetting about Sandy Koufax and Bob Gibson, but what the hey, it's all about the modern era.

If he walks away today -- and if he, of course, had the sense of saying he was going to do that before the World Series starts -- he's the Red Sox starting pitcher equivalent of Ted Williams. He comes back for another year, he risks the last memory of going out while stumbling around like the late-era Steve Carlton. (To be fair, I'm pretty sure that if he gets smacked around, an injury will crop up.) Besides, what's $10 million when you've already made over $100 million, and you can retire and become the dominant regional endorsement presence?

The answer, of course, is that athletes play, and it's the rare one that leaves while there is still the hint of anything left in the tank. Also, it's hard to see how retirement would really appeal to Schill; the media would be around a heck of a lot less.