Jacoby Ellsbury Returns To Red Sox

But all is not lost. Yes, the American League East is almost certainly lost. But man, those two Wild Cards? And especially the second, slightly lesser, of those two Wild Cards? That’s totally up for grabs. At this point, all that matters to the Boston Red Sox is that second Wild Card. After last season’s disastrous finish and the high expectations for this season, they’re not going to give up until the numbers compel them to give up.

So the numbers compel them to do the opposite of giving up. Especially with this good news:

So that’s good. Surgery would certainly have put Ellsbury out for a longer period than the six weeks mentioned when the injury happened on Friday. More from Valentine:

“He had some hand manipulation for range of motion. They’re trying to take it slowly to get it better. I don’t know that there is anything on the horizon other than the normal treatment and see how he does day by day,” Valentine said.Well, that doesn’t say too much. Ellsbury is on the 15-day disabled list and it seems far too optimistic to think he’d be back in that short a period of time. The Red Sox will likely be cautious with their star outfielder.

So it makes sense that the Red Sox would at least explore the trade market for additional outfielders. From WEEI.com:

Even so, the team is planning on spending a not insignificant chunk of time without the runner-up in last year’s AL MVP balloting, and so it should come as little surprise that one major league source said that the Red Sox are “actively” exploring the market for available outfielders to determine whether the team will be able to shore up an area where there is limited organizational depth.

Benjamin Buchanan of SB Nation Boston relays the official Red Sox statement on Ellsbury:

Injuries of this type usually require a four-to-six week recovery time, so it is likely that Ellsbury will remain on the disabled list longer than 15 days. Boston just wants to ensure that they will be able to activate their key player as soon as he is able to play.

It’s 2012, and that means we don’t have to rely just on baseball reporters or sources to get information from baseball players to the general public.

For more on the Red Sox and Ellsbury, please visit Over The Monster and SB Nation Boston.

It’s early, still. But it’s starting to get a little scary.