Red Sox to honor 2004 title team but Schilling won’t be in attendance
Opening day event will also pay tribute to Wakefield’s legacy
The Red Sox will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the 2004 World Series championship and the life of former pitcher Tim Wakefield prior to the April 9 home opener at Fenway Park, and a sizable contingent of players from that team are expected to be in attendance.
Former pitcher Curt Schilling will reportedly not be among them.
According to multiple reports,
Schilling has declined the Red Sox invitation to take part in the home opener festivities. The Red Sox had previously announced that all members of the 2004 team had been invited, but according to Masslive’s Sean Mcadam and Chris Cotillo, Schilling opted not to attend so his presence wouldn’t be a distraction from honoring Wakefield’s memory.
Schilling’s decision was first reported by Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe.
Once a beloved figure who played a central role in helping the 2004 Red Sox end the organization’s 86-year championship drought, Schilling has become a lightning rod of controversy since his playing career ended after the 2007 season. The right-hander’s reputation has been tarnished by his association with extreme political views, and last fall he angered many within the Red Sox organization and beyond when he publicly disclosed Wakefield and his wife Stacy’s cancer diagnoses without their permission.
Wakefield died days later at age 57 on Oct. 1, and Stacy Wakefield died on Feb. 29.
Schilling pitched four seasons with the Red Sox between 2004 and 2007 and helped the club win two championships. Following his arrival in 2004 he finished second in the AL Cy Young vote after going 21-6 with a 3.26 ERA
over 226.2 innings, and in the playoffs he battled through a painful ankle injury to help capture the historic title. He famously allowed one run over seven innings in Game 6 of the ALCS against the New York Yankees in what became known as “The Bloody Sock Game,” and followed that up with another quality start in Game 2 of the World Series.
He was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2012 and has taken part in several team events since his retirement, including the 2018 World Series champions’ ring ceremony before the 2019 home opener, but in recent years Schilling’s relationship with the team has been damaged, and his decision to disclose the Wakefields’ cancer diagnoses prompted widespread outrage and condemnation.
Lefty Murphy could miss season: Red Sox left-hander Chris Murphy could be out for the season.
The southpaw underwent an MRI on Monday after experiencing elbow discomfort, and imaging showed ligament damage. On Wednesday, Masslive reported that Murphy will undergo further testing for what could be a high-grade tear in his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL).
Surgery is the likely outcome, though not necessarily Tommy John, which would sideline Murphy for the entire ’24 season and into the ’25 campaign.
Murphy, 25, debuted with the Sox last season. He appeared in 20 games, and posted a 4.91 ERA, 3.70 FIP, and 1.406 WHIP over 47
⅔ total innings. His debut season was stronger than the ERA indicates. Though command could be shaky at times — he walked 8.0% of batters faced — he was strong by various metrics, including striking out 23.1% of his batters, just better than the 22.7% league average. He was also above-average at limiting home runs (2.4%) and inducing soft contact, in general; his 33.1% hard-hit rate was nearly 6% below league average.
Despite the small sample size, Murphy was expected to be one of the club’s top depth arms this season. Instead, he’s one of several pitchers around the league who will miss significant time, if not the entire year. It’s a significant blow for the Sox, who didn’t acquire as much big-league pitching depth as leadership stated they needed during the offseason.