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David Ortiz: ‘Opening Day seems like it’s not the case’ 03.11.13 at 1:17 pm ET
By Alex Speier

David Ortiz (AP)

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Red Sox DH David Ortiz, who on Sunday was shut down for five to seven days due to inflammation in both of his heels (though primarily his right heel — in the region below but not directly related to the Achilles he injured last season), acknowledged that he is unlikely to be ready to play by April 1, when the Sox will start their season against the Yankees in New York. Given that there will be just two weeks remaining in spring training by the time he can resume his attempts at baseball activity (such as hitting and running) — and that he won’t yet be ready to take part in spring training games at that point — the realities of the timing of his injury are becoming increasingly obvious.

“Everybody wants to be there for Opening Day, but it is what it is. … Opening Day was my goal. You guys heard me talking about it when I first got here. I was feeling good and pushing things the way I was being told,” said Ortiz. “Right now, Opening Day seems like it’s not the case. The case is get me healthy for five or five and a half good months. That’s what we’re looking for now.”

Though dismayed by the setback, Ortiz noted there was some reassurance in that the soreness he’s experiencing is not related to his Achilles.

[AUDIO: David Ortiz talks Monday about his current situation.]

“I was getting pain four or five hours after I was finished with my workout and I know something wasn’t right. We had that communication between me and the doctors, the trainers. They agree with getting an MRI just to see what was going on. It’s not anything crazy, thanks God. But it’s going to take a couple of weeks to get fixed,” said Ortiz. I know it wasn’t the Achilles. We have an MRI in December and my Achilles looked pretty good. We have an MRI right now and my Achilles is not the issue. It’s just inflammation right behind it. Going to work on that now.”

Ortiz did not require a pain-killing injection. Instead, he’s taking anti-inflammatories for his heels. He described his lengthy inactivity since his injury last year as requiring the equivalent of “starting all over,” further underscoring why it will take him a while before he’s ready to play.

“Once I start hitting, I know the things I need to approach to be right at the plate. I haven’t played in a while, so that’s why you approach different things and try to work on things more consistently,” said Ortiz. “Definitely when somebody hasn’t played for as long as I’ve been out, you definitely want to play before you go back in action. But you definitely need to be healthy before you do any of that. That’s what we’re looking for now.”

Ortiz said that the inflammation was a byproduct of the fact that he had been “compensating” for injury in his running work. Though he suffered a setback now, he remained optimistic that he will reach a point this year where he will play pain-free.

“That’s something that they are expecting. I’m expecting it,” he said. “I want to play where I don’t have to worry about that anymore. I have to focus on doing what I have to do on the baseball field.”

Eventually, that seems likely to happen. But for now, Ortiz is navigating the frustrations of his inability to be at the point where he’d hoped to be, and as that reality has become increasingly apparent over the course of the spring, it has left the usually ebullient Ortiz somewhat quieted by his disappointment.

“Nobody wants to be injured. Me, I was going 120 percent this offseason working with this injury and the good news is it had nothing to do with my Achilles like it used to. That made me happy at least, knowing that my Achilles is doing fine,” said Ortiz. “[But being injured] is not a good feeling. I’ve been working really hard this offseason just to make sure I’m good to go for the season. It’s happened. It’s not me being me. I know you guys have noticed that. like I said, it is what it is and things happen for a reason, right? The one thing that we’re really working on is that when I’m back, I’m back. It’s not just coming back for a couple of weeks and then going back and doing the same thing. They’re trying to fix the whole thing. That way when I get back in the lineup, it’s going to be there, and be there for the season.”

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  • Dpalm789

    “Nobody wants to be injured. Me, I was going 120 percent this
    offseason working with this injury and the good news is it had nothing
    to do with my Achilles like it used to”

    well geeeee yuh dumasssssssss maybe you shouldnt have gone 120% with a messed up Achilles and leg, you and the team probably wouldnt be in this position

  • Jim Piersall

    Which opening day is doubtful?  This year or next?  I think this would be an ideal time to give David a contract extension.  They should sign him through 2020.  Do you think that will make him happy?

  • RapMasta23

    RapMasta23
    WOW….looks like Mo Vaughan 2.0….this is messed up. wish i got paid a 10th of what he did.  Sports athletes are just over paid babies. didn’t hear any of the old timers complain about injuries.  some of them would pitch double headers.  suck it up and get out there and play. 

  • Troll Hunter

     Move on Yankees’ fraud/loser….

    BTW how’s Aroid doing?!?

  • Xander Bogaerts

    Can’t run around the bases every 2 days without getting sore heals. Suck it up Ortiz. Inflamation in the heals and he is crying about it in the media. Get out and play and if you can’t play shut up and stop whining.

    To bad he didn’t have inflamation in his right hand that could have prevented him from signing that moronic 2 yr deal management gave him.

  • Bruinman86

    Who has a better chance at playing this season – Carl Crawford of the Dodgers or Ortiz?  Both are over paid, but my bet is Ortiz has a much better chance of earning his paycheck despite the setbacks.

  • Dano50

    Can’t win as a player.  Work too hard and you get slimed by some so-called “fans”.  THIS is why players SHOULD just take every penny they can.  That’s how they get rewarded,  Fans turn on them in a NY minute.  Especially in this town.’

    They ought to be fine anyway. This opens an opportunity for someone else to step up.  Maybe even someone like Jackie Bradley Jr. who is dying for a chance. Have Napoli and Gomes DH some…give Nava some starts at first.  Team will be better defensively that way too. Let the Bradley era begin.  If he tears it up, they’ll have no choice but to make room for him.

  • Ty

    Sorry, Ortiz, but if the problem you are having is heel inflammation, and the achilles tendon inserts onto the calcaneus bone extremely close to where your heel is located, the achilles is definitely related.  It’s almost like saying you have hip inflammation, but the hip flexors aren’t related.

  • dirk

    Isn’t there a way the sox are protected in his new contract if his achilles (sp?) keeps him out for the season? Maybe that’s why he’s blaming his heel

  • Fab4ever

    You forgot that other corpse at 1st base…Mark Teixeira…..nah, he never juiced. He’s got all the earmarks of PED use…..and how many more years is he signed for? So, when the trolls come barking, there’s 2 prime examples of “duh”…less we forget Andy “The Cro Magnon Man” Pettite…at least Mo Rivera has the smarts to retire….

  • Bad hoofs

    The medical staff cleared him for the contract. Their medical staff also cleared Crawford and Jenks. Maybe bad MRI and Cat Scan machines or the one who reads it.

    Suck it up and play Bradley. Trout made it and the Rays have no problem playing their babies.

  • GetABetterMedicalStaff

    Being a red sox fan is awesome. Every season you can expect 50% of the starters and pitching staff to spend at least 1/3 of the season sitting cuz injuries.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003350267224 Jimmy Tayl

    im just hoping they gave this clown spring training off but won’t make it public..then the last week of spring training his heels will “just happen” to feel better and he will declare himself ready to play..im watching what little he did in spring training so far he has a huge smile on his face running sprints ..if he were in pain there would be no smile

  • Sinestros’ Fig Fetish

    Ortiz is many things a “clown” is not one of them(an especially confusing choice of words since you display optimism about Ortiz in the rest of your post…anyway)..and as for the rest of your theory ..not going to happen, and it is oh so difficult to make a medical diagnosis of someone based on their smiles or lack therof..but thanks for trying anyway.

  • Pedro

    Its funny Sox fans bring up the juice yet the only reason they won in 2004 and 2007 is because of the two biggest juiceheads in baseball Manny and Papi, Cheated to win there only titles in 86 years. Papi is a product of the juice, he did nothing with the twins all of a sudden he becomes king kong and hits a ton of homer’s. Sox fans can turn a blind eye to his juicing, but nobody thinks he has been clean

  • Pedro

    Play that other can’t miss prospect Lars anderson!! how he turn out. they only hyped him up for years

  • Pedro

    Give him a chance he has only been out 8 months. Guy is a joke and so are the sox

  • KingKen

    Why do they keep specifying that this isn’t related to the Achilles injury from last year? Of course it’s related. If the team is going to go along with a farce like that then why even put the language in the contract they gave him lowering the amount owed him this year if he spends 20 or more days on the DL because of that prior injury?

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