It was during Schilling’s postseason run in 2004 that he first became familiar with the term, having been diagnosed with a torn sheath in his ankle’s tendon after it had torn away from the ligament.
So what was the Red Sox pitcher’s reaction when it was learned that Ortiz would be heading down a similar road?
“I think the rule of thumb is to double what you hear from a diagnosis standpoint. If I’m going to have a cast on for a month, that means at least eight weeks before I’m back in the big leagues hitting again. You don’t just take the cast off, get in the batter’s box, and hit cleanup again.”
The only steadfast plan the Red Sox have put in place in respect to the partially torn sheath in the slugger’s ECU tendon is that they will take the cast off to re-evaluate the injury after approximately two weeks.
In Schilling’s eyes, the original idea that Ortiz might only be out a month appears a bit too optimistic.
“The neutral perspective is that it’s going to be eight weeks,” he said, “and that’s if the cast, along with four more weeks, are going to be the perfect solution to the problem.
“It’s not a good thing, but if we’re a world championship team that won’t stop us from winning the world championship. Not that he’s not incredibly instrumentally important, but no world championship team is built where you lose just one guy and you’re done. The truth is if (Ortiz) not being in the three-hole for eight weeks or the season means we don’t win the World Series, we aren’t meant to win it anyway.”