Nov. 5 -- SCHILLING SPEAKS

LAFAYETTE HILLS, Pa. -- Spent the afternoon at the Green Valley Country Club in Montgomery County, Pa., where Curt Schilling held his annual golf tournament to benefit ALS. After he came off the course, Schilling sat down with reporters to discuss his continued work with the ALS Association, his impending free agency and his thoughts on possibly signing with the Phillies.

We'll have plenty in the 50-center tomorrow, so I don't want to scoop myself. But here are a few highlights from Schilling's 20-minute Q&A.

On Curt's Pitch for ALS, which has raised $1.4 million in Philadelphia since 1993:
It continues to amaze me the amount of support the Philadelphia community has shown Shonda and I and the ALS Association. This is the 14th year this event has been running. I would question how many other athletes have had an event that has had this much contribution from the community run this long in addition to being gone for seven years and it continues to thrive. I’m so proud of the fact that these people have remained supportive of the association even though Shonda and I haven’t been here.

On being a free agent:
There’s no mystery surrounding what I’m thinking and what we’re doing. We’re working with [general manager] Theo [Epstein] and the Red Sox on getting a contract to finish my career in Boston. If that doesn’t pan out, then [the Phillies] are certainly one of the teams that we would be very interested in discussing a final year with.

On the Phillies now compared to when he left in 2000:
They’re much better as a team. I thought that they were the favorite in my mind as the season wound down. They’ve got an incredibly young, talented nucleus. They’ve got a good manager. I’ve played with some guys that have played for him. They love him. Pat Gillick is a guy that is good at what he does. I’ve heard great things about him. This is where we became major leaguers, my wife and my family and I. This is where I began to establish myself, so there are a lot of good memories here. The philosophy has changed. This city was up in arms this year in a good way as the season wound down. They’re disappointed in how they finished, but I think this is a team that’s going to contend for a significant period of time.

On looking for only a one-year contract:
I don’t want to play more than one more year. These things have never been overly complicated. I’m not going to break the bank. Whatever the number is going to be, it’s still going to be a crapload of money. I want it to be one of the teams. I want it to be Boston. If that doesn’t work out, I’ve heard from enough teams that have expressed significant interest to the point that I don’t think it’ll take very long.

On whether he's heard from Gillick or Ruben Amaro Jr.:
No, I haven't.

On transforming from a power pitcher to a finesse pitcher last season:
It was definitely a challenge. It was a very odd sequence of events that led to the disabled-list stint that I went through in the middle of the season. I came within one out of a no-hitter, and two starts later, I’m throwing the ball 82 mph. There was some physical issues that needed to be addressed. That six weeks off, I began to reassess what I was made of from a physical standpoint and how I was going to go forward. It was a challenge. Coming back, I think there were some games when maybe I was a little bit too stubborn and wouldn’t relinquish to some things that I needed to. Finally, [pitching coach] John [Farrell] and [catcher] Jason [Varitek] and I sat down as the season went along, and we realized that we were at a point where my fastball was going to be what it was and the other stuff was going to be what it was, and how were we going to be able to dominate teams with that stuff. Since ’04, I don’t feel like I’ve had a consistent season start to finish, or a good one. I’m going to put myself in a place going into spring training next year to do that. I have no intention of going out and scraping by and being a 14-11 guy with a 4.20. I’m not made like that.

On changing his training regimen this offseason:
All of the physical stuff will change. I came into spring training in a situation that I was much heavier than I should have been. Nobody to blame but myself. I can’t allow that to ever happen again. Then, there’s other issues working out this winter physically that I’m going to address and take care of. My goal is to come out next year and to win a world championship, a Cy Young and walk away.

On how he'll feel if the Sox don't re-sign him:
What it says is I don’t fit there. That’s how it works. They have an incredibly strong, young nucleus of players. This is going to be a good team for a long time. If I don’t fit, it’s because I don’t fit. I’ve already gotten way past that. I’ll be incredibly disappointed because it’s what I want. But I’ll move somewhere else, and I’ll make the very best of all of it.

OK, I have to start hacking away for the 50-cent edition. Assuming it will cost them at least $10 million and maybe closer to $13 million next season, do you want to see Schilling in the Phillies' starting rotation?