During this morning’s call-in to WEEI radio station, in which Curt Schilling revealed that he’s having season-ending surgery, Schilling also raised the possibility of returning as a second-half hired gun once he’s healthy in 2009.

"If I did everything I wanted to do, and did everything I could do and needed to do, and I was healthy, and I was better than that 2007 end of the season guy, and it wasn’t painful, I’ve got a decent track record after September," Schilling said. "Putting myself out there next All-Star break as healthy and auditioning for whoever’s in contention and pitching the final three months of the season, kind of in a David Cone hired gun kind of thing, I wouldn’t care where it was or what it was."

With all due respect to David Cone, he hasn’t been a second-half hired gun in more than a decade. When we think of mercenary glory hounds these days, we think first of Roger Clemens, who most recently tried this messiah tack last year, arriving at Yankee Stadium to announce that major military operations had come to a halt, i.e., Mission Accomplished. Are we to believe that Schilling, who has often cited Clemens as an early-career mentor, simply forgot about Mr. Mitchell Report? Considering Clemens has been in the news more than Barack Obama this year¹, that seems unlikely. What’s more likely is that Schilling is genuinely envisioning a future career as a post-season savior, and that he doesn’t want to associate himself with a public pariah like Clemens.

¹ At least in Houston.

Cam Martin is a Sox fan who lives in Yankee country (Fairfield County, CT). He also writes for Bugs&Cranks, Rotohog and Barnes & Noble Review. E-mail: cdavidmartin@yahoo.com