Schilling: No one is blameless

Curt Schilling posted an update on his blog, 38Pitches.com, in which he takes Major League Baseball, the Players Association, and even himself to task over the beef about Red Sox coaches and staff pay for the Japan trip.

Schilling wrote that the Red Sox were lukewarm about the trip from the get-go.

"I don’t believe MLB thought the players would have any objections and would be looking forward to the trip," Schilling wrote. "To the contrary, on the initial call we actually told MLB we pretty much decided on not wanting to do this, and that as a club we’d voted not to go. 4-5 frantic phone calls ensued, and before they did we, the players, spoke at length about our position and the fact that we knew they would come back to us in short order."

The team decided to put together a list of requirements that would need to be met in order for the players to agree to make the trip, according to Schilling. The requirements included having MLB provide free transportation for any players' and staff members' immediate families that wanted to go and also to compensate the staff at the amount 'guaranteed' to the players, which, according to Schilling, they were told would be $40,000 at a minimum.

"This topic [staff pay] was actually brought up on two separate occasions, both times it was agreed to and signed off on," Schilling wrote regarding the compensation dispute.

In addition to the compensation issue for the staff, there were a few more items on the requirements list, including roster size, travel times, and off days.

"There is now much debate about one of the above topics, and that came to a head today, but to focus on that is a mistake," Schilling wrote. "One by one the promises that were made at the time, were taken off the table. This happened, I guess, over the course of this past winter. Players were scattered all over the world, and many, most, had no idea. The discussions and negotiations were done with no knowledge of any of it, by players on this team, and I would assume Oakland as well."

"No one party is to blame for any of this. First off everyone is at fault for not getting ALL of this in writing at the time of the agreement. Next, there is blame on both sides, both MLB and the MLBPA for not honoring the stipulations of the agreement that were made.

"Basically the compensation piece is where the argument came to a nasty conclusion yesterday.

"As I understand it, the compensation works like this. All of the revenue generated by ‘the gate’ during this tour is split 50/50. Half goes to MLB, the other half goes to the MLBPA. In the past the ‘staff’ of the teams was, as I understand it, compensated out of the 50% taken in by the MLBPA. This was negotiated OUT of the agreement at some point in the recent past by someone(s) in the MLBPA, unbeknown to us."

The strength coaches, head trainers, BP coaches and catchers and other staff members are the least appreciated employees in many organizations, according to Schilling, and that's why the Sox were willing to make a stand yesterday.

"I am proud as hell to be a part of a group of men who were absolutely 100% willing to not step on this plane and make this trip, knowing full well we would be in violation of our contracts," Schilling wrote. "We’d potentially be forfeiting games and much much more, to stand behind a group of people that have very few supporters."

Read the entire blog post on the Japan dispute from Curt Schilling here.