Farrell: No surgery for Price; will be shut down for 7-10 days
The Boston Red Sox received some encouraging news Friday afternoon, as manager John Farrell confirmed that David Price is expected to avoid surgery on his wonky left arm, noting that the five-time All-Star will be shut down for the next 7-10 days and then re-evaluated, according to Tim Britton of the Providence Journal.
"We got positive news after the exam by Dr. Andrew and Dr. EllAttrache," Farrell told reporters. "No surgery. No (platelet-rich plasma) or any injection of any kind. The approach we're going to take him with him is he'll receive treatment and medication for the next seven to 10 days. We'll re-evaluate him at that time."
Hampered by unusually intense soreness in his forearm and elbow following a two-inning simulated game Tuesday, Price was scratched from Saturday's scheduled Grapefruit League debut and sent for an MRI that revealed swelling and fluid build-up in the area but was deemed "inconclusive," according to Farrell.
Amid widespread concern over the possibility of Tommy John surgery, Price headed to Indianapolis to receive a second opinion on the MRI results Friday from noted orthopedists Dr. James Andrews and Dr. Neal ElAttrache, but returned to Fort Myers promptly after both doctors offered up a diagnosis Farrell characterized as a "best-case scenario."
"Even talking with David on his way up there," Farrell continued, "he felt with each passing hour, he was becoming more free. As we've talked about, him experiencing this type of forearm injury in spring training, it may be a little bit more intensified this year, but it's still kind of spring-training arm he goes through. A very positive exam given some of the concern a couple days ago."
There's no timetable for his return, though, added Farrell. He stressed that the Red Sox have a "definitive plan going forward" for Price, now heading into the second year of a $217-million deal he signed with Boston last offseason.
In his first season with the Red Sox, Price put up a 3.99 ERA - his worst since 2009 - while serving up a career-worst 30 home runs, but the former Cy Young Award winner led the American League in innings pitched for the second time in the past three years, too, and tied for ninth in the bigs with 22 quality starts.