Now, I will agree that these aren't the most thoughtful comments I've ever seen - however there are certainly good reasons not to sign Schilling....just as there are good reasons to sign him.

Pros:
 - smart veteran leader that could teach the other guys something.
 - better pitcher than most of our staff, even at his age
 - eat up some innings
 - most teammates say he's a gamer that's a good teammate.
 - who cares what it costs, our payroll is nothing

Cons:
 - he's an a$$hole that has said numerous bad things about the Rays in the past
 - very likely that he could be our highest paid player, and only be healthy enough to play 1/4 of the year
 - some teammates say he's all about grandstanding and all about himself
 - if he's not healthy, his salary might better pay for free parking
 - best years are definitely behind him

Off-topic, but I cannot resist. I am 64 years old and have followed baseball for close to 60 of those years. Since the beginning, I have heard about the "egos" of modern day athletes, or of them playing only for the money or of them not playing good fundamental baseball. I heard it throughout the 1950s, and equally as stridently in the 1960s, 70s, 80s, 90s and now in the 21st. century. It is one of the silliest cliches in the book and has no place on a site that you quite correctly note is a site for intelligent Rays' fans.

I am carefully checking for the moment that I officially become an old fart, and I will know it has occurred the first time I say something like that. At that moment, I will retire to my room and never speak again.

If the point is that there is more publicity and more investigation into the negatives of players today, I cannot disagree. There is little doubt that the sports page culture used to be to create heroes and now it is more to tear them down. I think both are noxious and have nothing to do with actual reporting or analysis.

The sox won't sign Schilling next year. I have a feeling they would rather retain the cheap services of Wakefield, a proven innings-eater and class guy. I base this on the emergence of Kevin Cash as the possible kuncklecatcher of the future. The sox rotation probably will look like this:

Beckett
Matsuzaka
Buchholz
Lester
Wakefield, or random corpse x.

TB should definitely go HARD after schill. Schill will provide the veteran presence that TB has never had. Maybe go for Clement too if he shows signs of a comeback this september, sign him on a "prove yourself" contract. Then somehow put together a bullpen. Blam, wildcard contenders.