Projo Sox Blog

Reports continue to trickle out of the World Baseball Classic that David Ortiz isn't feeling as well as he should be. The latest word is that Ortiz won't play first base anymore in the WBC because his shoulder hurts when he throws. He feels fine when he hits.
Manager Terry Francona isn't worried.

He said he knew Ortiz was having trouble throwing early in spring training. Anything beyond that, and he would have heard it through either the Dominican Republic's trainer, or from Ortiz himself.

"We knew that. That's not an issue. If it was an issue it would have shown up in their reports, or with them telling us," Francona said. "If it was a real problem, believe me, I'd know about it."

The Red Sox don't play interleague games until late May, and as far as Francona's concerned, he doesn't care one bit if his designated hitter has throwing issues until then.

"In my opinion, he's got until, what, May 20, to figure it all out," he said.

 Tags  Dan Barbarisi David Ortiz Terry Francona

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