updated 8:38 p.m. ET June 25, 2008

BOSTON - Curt Schilling kept open the possibility of returning to the Red Sox, but said Wednesday he’ll wait about four months before deciding whether to continue his career following shoulder surgery.

“If I come out of rehab and I’m throwing 84 miles per hour, it’s over,” he said on WEEI radio.

The results of Monday’s surgery were a “best case scenario,” Dr. Craig Morgan said after completing the operation in Wilmington, Del.

He repaired a diseased tendon and its groove and an injured labrum, but found no significant rotator cuff damage in the 41-year-old right-hander’s shoulder.

Schilling agreed with Morgan’s estimate that he could be throwing a ball in four months. Morgan also estimated he could be throwing from a mound within seven months, by late January. Schilling, one of the best postseason pitchers in baseball history, has indicated he could be a “hired gun” who could help a contender in the second half of next season.

But he won’t decide whether to pitch again until he’s had four months of rehab.

“I’m trying to assess if I’m going to be able to make the commitment,” he said Wednesday.

Has he eliminated the possibility of returning to the Red Sox?

“Not at all,” Schilling said.

In spring training, he went along with the team’s desire to rehabilitate the shoulder without surgery even though he wanted an operation. The Red Sox, who have him under contract for one year at $8 million, got their way.

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“Teams make decisions that are in their best interests,” Schilling told WEEI, “and if those things don’t align with what a player feels, it doesn’t matter.”

General manager Theo Epstein said last Friday it was premature to say that Schilling, who was traded to Boston by Arizona after the 2003 season, definitely wouldn’t return to the Red Sox next season.

“He made a tremendous impact here,” Epstein said then. “He certainly lived up to his end of the bargain and it was a very effective marriage while it lasted.”

Schilling said the Red Sox agreed with the decision to operate.

“If I want to pitch again I have a chance to,” he told WEEI.

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