BASEBALL Boston fans celebrate title, but can Sox stay together?

Pedro Martinez heads a list of 15 potential free agents.
BOSTON (AP) -- The line at the souvenir store curved around the corner, about the length of a Mark Bellhorn homer into Pesky's Pole.
Thousands of fans yearned to wear the words "Boston Red Sox" and "World Series Champions" on the same shirt. One of them wasn't sure what he wanted on the back.
"If I knew Varitek would stay, I'd get his authentic jersey, so maybe I'll get Schilling or Ortiz instead," said Chris McDevitt, a 30-year-old accountant who once worked in concessions at Fenway Park.
On Thursday, smiling customers with long shopping lists didn't seem to mind they had slept too little after the Red Sox won the World Series for the first time since 1918, finishing a sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday night. The fans also didn't mind standing in line just across narrow Yawkey Way from the stadium where the messageboard read: "Welcome Home 2004 World Champions."
But when the euphoria and disbelief subsides, they'll wonder who will play on the team as it tries to defend the title.
Question marks
David Ortiz is signed through 2006, Curt Schilling through 2007 and Manny Ramirez through 2008.
But Pedro Martinez, Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek can become free agents along with 15 less valuable players.
General manager Theo Epstein will have to prove himself again and team owner John Henry will have to come up with the money. This year's payroll of $128 million was second only to the New York Yankees' $186 million.
With the World Series victory, a bonus in Schilling's contract increases his 2005 salary from $12.5 million to $14.5 million and guarantees his 2007 club option at $13 million.
"Already we're thinking in terms of what it's going to take to defend our championship," Henry said when the team bus arrived at Fenway Thursday morning.
Nothing, though, compares to this championship. The fans showed him that on his ride in from the airport after Lowe pitched seven scoreless innings in the clinching 3-0 victory.
"They never gave up, for their entire lives, they never gave up," Henry said. "As we drove in the buses with a police escort, traffic was stopped everywhere, people were out of their cars. Just sheer joy, the release of all this yearning to win a world championship is just a great thing to see, to be a part of."
Martinez has a good relationship with Henry, and he has until Nov. 11 to declare free agency.
"It really is too early, way too early" to discuss that, said Fernando Cuza, Martinez's agent.
Inside Fenway, which opened the same week in 1912 in which the Titanic sunk, workers washed the concourses. On the field, the World Series logo remained on the grass behind home plate and the first- and third-base lines were given a new coat of white paint in case the field is needed for team photos.
Since the Red Sox lost Game 7 of last year's AL championship series to the Yankees, Epstein has found ways to get them over that hump -- adding All-Stars and role players.