John Farrell reacts to David Ortiz' injury situation
By now I'm sure everyone has heard the bad news regarding David Ortiz; the Red Sox DH will likely be out until past Opening Day. Well, with the news coming out this morning, manager John Farrell had some explaining to do. Upon reiterating that although Ortiz is not experiencing pain in the same Achilles tendon that ended his season last year, the slugger is struggling with the same heel. To be specific, there is more pain in the bony area.
Farrell opened up about the situation earlier today. He spoke of the team's expectations, moving forward, and lightly touched on who the replacing DH will be:
"There’s interrupted time here but when you compare it to the injury sustained last year, that’s why there’s still real and very tangible progress being made here,'' said Farrell. "But in talking to our medical staff, they felt there was going to be some pain as he got back to full speed. So yeah, this is somewhat expected.''
"It’s safe to say we don’t have another David Ortiz waiting to occupy that slot,'' he said.
Big Papi had yet to play in a Spring Training game, as he was still recovering from an Achilles injury last season. When new complications regarding his sore heel arose, the team decided to shut him down. Originally slated for a week off, Ortiz is now expected to start the season on the DL. Although disappointed in his setback, Papi was somewhat positive when he explained his relief that this was not anything major nor a further result of the last season's injury:
"We're humans. We're humans. Nobody wants to be injured," he said. "Me, I was going 120 percent this offseason working with this injury. The good news is that it had nothing that had to do with my Achilles, like it used to be. That made me happy at least, knowing that my Achilles is doing fine."
Stay with RedSoxLife.com for more updates on Ortiz, details of the injury, and who his possible replacements may be.
Anthony Aidonidis
@aidonidis18
