Should the Cubs or Rays Want Curt Schilling?

Curt Schilling says there's only a twenty percent chance he returns to baseball.  He hasn't pitched since 2007, and sat out all of last season rehabbing from shoulder surgery.

But if he were to come back, he says he'd like to pitch for either the Tampa Bay Rays or Chicago Cubs.

It's the obvious challenge:  take a team that hasn't won in 100 years, and break their curse like he did the Red Sox, or go to a team that until winning the American League pennant last year was the perennial doormat of the AL East.  Schilling could add to his legendary post season status, especially if he brought the Red Sox and Cubs a World Series Championship in his career.  Who else in baseball history would be able to say that?

Still, before we start worrying about where he'll go, he's not even sure he wants to pitch.  Like I said, Schilling said his chances of returning are just twenty percent.

"I'm hemming and hawing right now," Schilling said about the possibility of pitching again to ESPN Radio.  "I'll make a decision in the next couple of weeks."

Schilling has been a great pitcher in his career for stretches.  I don't believe he's a hall of famer myself, but he has had an excellent career.  He has 216 career wins, has a career ERA of 3.46 and has 3,116 career strikeouts.

His post-season numbers are amazing however, as he boasts an 11-2 career record in October with a 2.23 ERA.  The thought of having him pitch in the playoffs, especially for a Cubs team that hasn't won a post-season game during the last two years, would be enticing.

But his last full season in the bigs was fairly pedestrian.  He went 9-8 with a 3.87 ERA, and struck out 101 over 151 innings.  He also allowed 21 home runs during that stretch.  Those numbers aren't exactly the type of numbers a GM would covet, especially from a pitcher who will turn 43 this year.

If you're the Cubs, I suppose he could fit into the fifth spot in the rotation behind Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster, Rich Harden and Ted Lilly.  In the playoffs, maybe you start Schilling in games one or two of a playoff series, depending on how he's pitching heading into the series.  Plus, you'd have a guy who historically loves enormous pressure and wouldn't likely be fazed by the pressure the Cubs roster is usually burdened with in October.

If you're the Rays, he'd be entering a young and already crowded rotation, with Scott Kazmir, James Shields, Matt Garza, Andy Sonnanstine and David Price already responsible for rise of Tampa Bay in 2008.  It would be interesting to see him pitch against Boston in the ALCS or in the World Series, but the Rays appear to be a team that has the pitching to win it.  With more experience you'd think they could probably capture the crown without Schilling in the rotation.

And again, he turns 43 this year.

If you're getting the Schilling of the past, it would be a no brainer to have this guy in uniform as soon as he's ready to go.  If you're not though, imagine the disappointment for a Cubs team to add a guy like Schill and still not get to the promised land.  And if you're the Rays, adding him might slow the development of one of your young starters who needs the experience to improve.

What do you all think?  Post away.