Boston Red Sox Rumors: Was David Ortiz Unavailable On Sunday Because Of A Cold?

Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz was not in the lineup on Sunday for the series finale against the New York Yankees. In fact Ortiz wasn’t even available to pinch hit for the Red Sox. Comcast Sports Net New England is reporting that Red Sox manager John Farrell had Ortiz go home.

“David was sent home even before the game so was not available in any capacity today. This came on throughout the game last night. Was checked here this morning and per doctor’s instructions was to leave the ballpark.”

The “this” that Farrell was talking about was an upper-respiratory infection. If you look up URI on the Johns Hopkins Medical website you will find that it is also known as the common cold. Red Sox fans could find this irritating. Ortiz is Boston’s designated hitter and he couldn’t somehow gut out four at bats because he was battling the sniffles? The Red Sox could have used Ortiz’s bat as they lost to the Yankees 8-6, to drop 6 1/2 games behind New York in the American League East.

Ortiz hasn’t been the premier slugger for Boston that he has been in years past, but he still strikes fear in opposing pitchers. He is batting just .231, but he still has 15 home runs. No matter how bad he has been this year, he is better than any of the other Red Sox options like Travis Shaw, Alejandro De Aza, or Mike Napoli. Even if he was in the batter’s box hacking up a lung, his mere presence is more imposing than any of the trio previously mentioned.

This was a huge series for the Red Sox and they were already short-handed with Dustin Pedroia on the disabled list with a hamstring strain. NESN is reporting that Farrell feels Pedroia is almost ready to go.

“He’s chomping at the bit to get back on the field. At this point, don’t anticipate him going out on a rehab assignment. We’ll put him right back in the lineup.”

One thing is certain, Pedroia wouldn’t miss game time because of a cold.

The Boston Red Sox are on the edge of contention and just a few losses, as reported on earlier at the Inquisitr, could make the Red Sox sellers instead of buyers. Ortiz had four off days coming up, is it really too much to ask for him to suck it up and take a few cuts on Sunday? Well with the All-Star break and some Nyquil maybe Big Papi can avoid a stint on the disabled list.

[Image by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images]