More 38 Pitches!

Word out of Orlando, where baseball is conducting its annual winter meetings, is that the Red Sox and Curt Schilling are closing in on a deal. As Schilling writes on his always-entertaining blog, ‘It’s looking good.’

After the World Series, Schilling said he would take a one-year deal to stay with the Sox, and with uncertainty surrounding the health of Tim Wakefield, this is almost a no-brainer for the team. Add Schilling to the mix of Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Jon Lester, and Clay Buchholz, and now you have depth in case one of the younger guys break down. Schilling isn’t the only thing happening at the winter meetings, of course.

The big prize is Alex Rodriguez, and if you want to follow the twisted mind of agent Scott Boras, just click over to Jon Heyman’s Boras-approved musings for SI.com, where anonymous sources tout nearly every team’s interest in the sullen third-sacker. Today’s “perfect fit” is the Mets, where we learn that they are the team of A-Rod’s youth, and that his favorite player as a kid was Keith Hernandez. Huh. It’s all very entertaining stuff.

What appears to be really going on in Orlando, is that every team in need of a third baseman is working through Plans A (Mike Lowell), B (Miguel Cabrera) and C (Joe Crede) before succumbing to the soul-crushing reality that will be A-Rod’s contract.

Our hope is that every team solves its third base issue and Team Boras is left to mull contract offers from the Twins, Pirates, and Nationals.

We’ll try to keep you updated as the meetings progress.

UPDATE: Reports are trickling in that it’s a done deal. ESPN has it for $8 million and another $2 million in incentives, which is an outstanding deal for the Sox. The AP checks in to say that it’s $8 million, $3 million in incentives, and $2 million in weight clauses, which is kind of awesome. [ESPN/boston.com]