Ortiz Getting Weekend Off To Deal With 'General Soreness'
BOSTON (CBS) -- Red Sox DH David Ortiz will get the weekend off to deal with "general soreness," according to manager John Farrell.
Fans shouldn't worry though. It sounds like the only thing Ortiz is really sore about is spring training games, and Farrell is confident Ortiz will be ready to go for Opening Day.
"He'€™s under the weather," Farrell said of his DH, who also dealt with dehydration earlier this week. "He'€™s dealing with a couple of things. He'€™s going to remain going through overall treatment, just getting some of the general soreness out of it. I don'€™t anticipate him in a game over the weekend."
With Opening Day in Philadelphia just over two weeks away, there may be some concern that Ortiz, who will have to play some first base in the interleague series, won't be ready for such a workload. But Farrell said appearing in a few games following his weekend off should be all the Sox slugger needs in order to be good to go come April 6.
"That'€™s going to get enough familiarity. Even when we'€™ve been in interleague play before in National League ballparks, there'€™s been some days of ground balls, which he'€™s already been taking here," noted Farrell. "So he'€™ll have enough time to prepare for Philadelphia."
The 39-year-old Ortiz is 4-for-15 with a home run and five RBI this spring.