Curt Schilling pulled the plug on the 2006 season Tuesday night and then let slip one little word of doubt about whether he'll be back for '07. "If I come back next year, I know that the offseason will be the hardest of my career," he said. Wait a minute. Did he just say if? "Well, going into next year," he backtracked. Schilling is due $13 million on the contract extension he signed when he waived his no-trade clause to come to Boston on Thanksgiving weekend of 2003. The money was an option that vested when the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series, thanks in no small part to Schilling.