Feb. 8 -- SHOULDERING ON?

Shortly before Christmas, Curt Schilling began feeling pain in the front of his right shoulder. By mid-January, the pain grew so intense that he strained to open a door or even shake a hand.

So, Schilling called Dr. Craig Morgan.

Morgan, as you may know, has an office on Silverside Road in North Wilmington. He's an orthopedic surgeon, and Schilling is among his highest-profile patients. In the nearly 15 years that he's known Schilling, Morgan has performed two surgeries and supervised three rehabilitations. Last year, when Schilling had shoulder problems, he saw Morgan three times. There's nobody that he trusts more with the health of his right arm.

And, after reviewing the results of an MRI exam performed Jan. 24, Morgan (right) and former Phillies athletic trainer (and fellow Delawarean) Jeff Cooper concur that Schilling needs surgery to repair the bicipital groove, a portion of the biceps tendon which runs outside of the shoulder. The Red Sox, however, are suggesting a cortisone shot and rehabilitation and reportedly have threatened to void Schilling's $8 million contract if he undergoes surgery that Morgan says will sideline him until the All-Star break and the Red Sox believe will prevent him from pitching at all in 2008.

"In my opinion, a conservative approach will be unsuccessful and a surgical option is medically the correct thing to do and has the only potential shot of him being able to salvage his coming season," Morgan told the Boston Herald. Morgan also added that Schilling's biceps tendon looks like "three strands of spaghetti."

Meanwhile, as the Sox and Schilling bicker over a proper course of action, the Phillies must be breathing a sigh of relief that he never hit the open market this winter. The Phils would've been interested in signing Schilling to a one-year contract -- and they were on Schill's short list of possible suitors -- if the Sox hadn't re-signed him.

Judging from Morgan's diagnosis, it sounds like Schilling may be the 2008 version of Freddy Garcia.