Based on the success the team had with giving Schilling and Josh Beckett more than seven days' rest on several occasions late in the season and the fact that Daisuke Matsuzaka thrived on five days' rest in his native Japan, the team is considering a switch to a six-man pitching rotation.

"We've discussed that concept, the concept of a six-man rotation," Epstein said. "I think it's premature to commit to any usage pattern, but certainly we're in a bit of a unique situation where you'd say a number of our starters might benefit from something like that in one way or another. But there's just so much attrition in baseball that the minute we start counting on having a six-man rotation or give it serious consideration, that's when we lose a pitcher or two in Spring Training and we look for someone to step up."

Adding more fuel to the speculation now is the return of Schilling for 2008, giving the Red Sox, at least on paper, six starters heading into the season in Beckett, Matsuzaka, Schilling, Tim Wakefield, Jon Lester and possibly Clay Buchholz.

"I'm sure that topic will come up in our internal discussions between now and Spring Training. It's an interesting concept, given the personnel we have, but not something we've fully explored yet," Epstein said.

Mike Petraglia, contributor to MLB.com.