Nov. 1 -- KEEPING UP WITH CURT, EPISODE 2

If the Phillies weren't one of the three teams that contacted Curt Schilling yesterday, I'm certain they will speak to him before the week is over. As usual, Schill kept us all in the loop with this blog entry today.

So the first day of Free Agency begins. I cannot divulge names because the teams involved asked that I not do so at this point, but the first day resulted in initial contact with 3 teams. Kind of weird to be doing this with no agent but at the same time pretty cool. All three discussions were very informal, with the clubs expressing interest in potentially working together next year. Two of the teams were on the list of teams mentioned earlier, one was not.

I made it clear to all three teams that my intent was to do whatever I could to resolve this and remain in Boston for the final year of my career. The only question asked beyond the initial conversations were to my desires about the contract, and whether or not I truly wanted a one year deal or was looking for more. That has not changed, we are still only looking to sign a one year contract and I can’t envision a scenario where that would change.

FYI: The team that wasn't on Schilling's initial list was the Astros. No surprise there. Ed Wade is their new GM. Also, I've heard from people in Boston that the Sox are willing to re-sign Schilling only if he accepts a low-base, incentive-laden one-year deal. I think Schilling is looking for a sizable base salary (he made $13 million in 2007), especially after his postseason performance.

*
It was rather inevitable, so it got little attention. But Freddy Garcia filed for free agency yesterday, and since there's absolutely no chance the Phils will re-sign him, this is a symbolic ending to his one-year tenure here.

With that, I'll ask you this: Is Freddy (one $10 million win) the biggest bust in Phillies history?