BOSTON — Red Sox manager Terry Francona offered a brief pregame update on the status of outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, who has been out since April 12 after sustaining a bruised rib in a collision with third baseman Adrian Beltre.
Ellsbury underwent a CT scan, which revealed he has four ribs with hairline fractures. Fortunately, nothing is displaced; unfortunately, though, Francona and the medical staff are still unsure of just how long he'll be out.
"When we got to the point where we knew he wasn't making that last hurdle, we went and got a CT scan," Francona said. "The medical people assured us that this is the protocol — this is how you treat the symptoms. Once he wasn't able to play, that's when we had to go back and do the CT scan."
Francona emphasized that the results of the CT scan do little to help determine how much more time Ellsbury will miss. It's more of a waiting game to see how he feels each given day.
"When an X-ray comes back negative, that means that you treat the symptoms," Francona said. "That kind of threw us all for a loop a little bit, but it may not even affect his timetable of return. Maybe it will — but it may not. It's going to be all symptomatic and [incumbent upon] how he feels."
Via conference call, Red Sox medical director Tom Gill agreed with the manager's take on Ellsbury's injury.
"We will continue to treat Jacoby exactly the same as before," he said. "[The treatment for this injury is] strictly symptom based, they are very variable. As soon as he can swing, hit,
run, catch without any limitations, he'll be cleared to play. It could be a week, it could be a couple of weeks.
"From a medical standpoint," Gill continued, "he will be cleared to play as soon as his symptoms go away."
When asked if Ellsbury will be able to return on Tuesday, when he is eligible to come off the DL, Francona was hesitant to offer a definitive date.
"Again, I don't know if it's realistic, but I don't know that it's not," Francona said.
Francona indicated that the results of the scan will not change his course of treatment.
For his part, Ellsbury is itching to get back on the field as soon as possible.
"When we got in that bind a little bit with outfielders and we talked to Jacoby, he himself — when we showed him the day he could come off the DL — he was like, 'No way,'" Francona said. "I think he thought it would be a couple of days at the beginning, too.
"When I start talking too much medical, I can probably mess up, but I think I've given you the general gist of it. … Tom Gill certainly makes it sound a lot better than I can."
