Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein confirmed Wednesday morning that Daisuke Matsuzaka will not throw with other starters in unofficial Wednesday workouts at the minor league complex in Fort Myers.
Matsuzaka has been suffering from a sore back, but both the pitcher and the team believe it is not serious.
"We decided not to let him do much until we have the physicals, given
what he went through last spring, probably doing a little too much, too
soon for the [World Baseball Classic]," said Epstein. "We’re two
months away from needing his rotation spot anyway, so we’ll just slow
it down, let our doctors look at him, not make something we think is
really small into something big."
Epstein said Matsuzaka will be slightly behind the other starters in terms of preparation for camp, but at this point, the team expects him to be ready for the start of the season in April. The first day of workouts for pitchers and catchers is not until Saturday morning, with physicals for the group on Thursday.
Epstein said there was no reason to have Dice-K throw a day before being seen by the team's medical staff.
"If it’s a mild strain like we think it is, he’ll be able to have a
normal spring training," said Epstein. "He’ll be delayed a bit at the
start of camp. I don’t want to put a number of days that he’ll be
behind, but he’ll be a little bit behind because while other guys are
long tossing and throwing ‘pens now, he’s not going to do that for a
few days."
