FORT MYERS, Fla. - Can Curt Schilling live without Boston? Can the Red Sox carry on their success without the symbol to the top of their rotation?

Yesterday both sides drew a step closer to finding out the answers.

Thanks to an early-morning interview on WEEI, it was learned that Schilling won't be negotiating a one-year extension with the Red Sox and he plans on entering free agency at season's end. Immediately, the hypothesis began regarding the viability of one without the other.

Schilling said that he is more than willing to move on out of Boston after the completion of his contract. But while it's possible that the 40-year-old could bring a valuable on-field cache to numerous Major League Baseball ports of call, there might be some queries as to whether Schilling's roots in the area have grown so deep that unearthing them seems far-fetched.

At the heart of the issue in regards to picking up and leaving town would seem to be his commitment to his new venture, Green Monster Games. Schilling dove head-first into the multi-million dollar project (as is evidenced by the company's logo tattooed on his left shoulder), with the headquarters entrenched in Maynard.

According to Brett Close, the president of GMG and the man who Schilling has entrusted to run the company in his baseball-induced absence, the organization, which plans to produce massively multiplayer online games, won't be an albatross when it comes to the pitcher's decision on where to play next season.

"Even with him based in Boston, there is a very clear separation," Close said by phone. "He's really not going to be around at all (during the baseball seasons). There needs to be a clear separation, and there is a clear separation. He has made it clear that when he's playing baseball, he's playing baseball. It really wouldn't matter where he was. Regardless, we have to be self-sufficient and not expect a lot of interaction no matter where he is.

"Obviously we want him to continue to do well in his baseball career, which fits with GMG nicely in a lot of ways. But if something should change in the status of his baseball career, whether it's a team or whatever, as long as it's OK with Curt, it's OK with the company."

While moving on has been made viable in the eyes of Schilling, why does it seem equally as acceptable for the Red Sox? The easy answer was given yesterday by Boston general manager Theo Epstein. "It doesn't make sense to guarantee that much money to a 41-year-old," he said.

Schilling has gone on record that he wants to match the $13 million he his making this season in his next deal. But the way Boston views it, the risk is too much right now, with no idea of what kind, if any, reward awaits.

The Yankees signed Randy Johnson to a two-year, $32 million extension before the 2005 season, hoping the 42-year-old would remain the highly valued top-of-the-rotation pitcher he had been throughout his career. But last year, the first of his $16 million-a-year extension, he totaled a 5.01 ERA - his highest ever.

New York took a similar gamble as the one Boston is undertaking when the Yankees declined to pick up Mike Mussina's $17 million option year. It paid off for the Yanks, who rode out a 15-win, 3.51 ERA season out of the 38-year-old before re-signing him to an $22 million deal for the next two seasons.

The Yankees got their cost certainty, while saving money to boot. That's what the Red Sox are looking for.

Schilling pointed out that motivation won't be an issue this season, citing that some of his best seasons came in the first year of deals. But the pitcher also realizes that if he does turn in a stellar season, it could mean around a $15 million payday. And if that is the case, then Boston got what it wanted - an exceptional year from its Opening Day starter, along with proof of the hurler's health and effectiveness, and all it might have cost the Sox was a couple of million dollars for both.

Schilling's ERA last season did go from 3.60 in the first half to 4.58 in the second, and those who have pitched into their 40s can attest that it doesn't get any easier.

"Your body starts to deteriorate," said former Sox pitcher Luis Tiant, who pitched until he was 41, but had a significant drop-off at the age of 40. "Things become hard to do. Everything took longer to get to the place where I wanted to get. It's hard. Once you get to 37, 38 and then you hit 40, you are no kid anymore. You don't have the same flexibility, the body tells you. You don't tell the body anymore."

Now, it is up to Schilling to find out who will have the last word.