Notes From the Clubhouse: The Red Sox Might Be in Some Serious Trouble

Our MLB editor provides weekly dispatches from major league games in Notes From the Clubhouse.

Bad news for Boston fans Monday night. The Red Sox will place designated hitter David Ortiz on the disabled list after an MRI revealed the slugger had a torn tendon sheath in his extensor carpi ulnaris -- a muscle in the wrist. Ortiz is certain to miss at least a few weeks, though the Boston Herald has reported that he will miss at least a month and could face season-ending surgery.

Manager Terry Francona did not indicate the injury was quite that serious, though he will confer with Ortiz, GM Theo Epstein and the team's medical staff tomorrow in Boston.

Big Papi struggled in April, but he was his usual slugging self in May putting up a line of .318/.409/.617 (AVG/OBP/SLG) over the last month. No team in baseball is prepared to replace that kind of production, but the Red Sox are deeper than any other organization in the game and are prepared to make do while Ortiz gets healthy. Francona said after the game that reserve first baseman Sean Casey would likely see additional time while Ortiz is sidelined, but the most likely lineup Francona will put out there will probably feature Manny Ramirez at DH and Jacoby Ellsbury, Brandon Moss and maybe even Bobby Kielty or Kevin Youkilis splitting time in left field.

When asked about seeing more time as a designated hitter, Ramirez said "I love it. I love to DH," though he then went on to joke that if he played there too much it might hurt his chances at getting the Gold Glove he so covets. "It's nice to give him a blow and still keep his bat in the game," said Francona of playing Ramirez at DH.

If the Red Sox were merely losing Ortiz for a few weeks, there wouldn't be much to worry about, but Big Papi's injury is just at the top of a long list of concerns for the reigning champs.

Boston will miss Ortiz, but they'll do a very good job of filling the void in the short-term

The other problems facing Boston:

- The Rays are headed into Fenway Park for a midweek series and now sit 1 1/2 games ahead of Boston in the standings. Tampa Bay is overachieving a little bit, but they are for real and more than 1/3rd of the way into the season they have an edge, albeit a small one, on Boston. Tampa Bay spent 13 days of May in first place and it has already weathered an injury to its best pitcher -- Scott Kazmir -- who missed all of April.

- Daisuke Matsuzaka is out with a shoulder injury, Curt Schilling's return is a long way off and Clay Buchholz is in the minors working on his fastball command. That leaves the largely unproven Justin Masterson as the fifth starter in the Boston rotation for now. Matsuzaka's shoulder injury is particularly worrisome because he's been the club's best starter so far this year, and you have to worry about how quickly he'll recover given the type of injury and the heavy workload he's endured during his career.

- Dustin Pedroia's on-base percentage is down to .318 on the season and, as the numbers bear out, he seems to have dramatically altered his approach at the plate. He's simply stopped walking.

- Besides Jonathan Papelbon, the rest of the bullpen is shaky. Hideki Okajima has a deceptively low ERA, but after Monday's implosion in Baltimore, he's now blown five saves and he's allowed 11 of 14 inherited runners to score. Sidewinding lefty Javier Lopez and David Aardsma have both been all right, but Manny Delcarmen and Craig Hansen have been wildly inconsistent and veteran Mike Timlin looks like he might finally be losing it.

Add all that up and it's easy to envision the AL East slipping away a little from the reigning champions, at least until Ortiz returns from the disabled list. Of course, the Red Sox never seem to panic, at least outwardly, about these type of things, even when they seem to snowball. "We have good hitters, Casey is one of them," said Francona. "We can have Manny sometimes DH and have an outfield that runs all over the place. We'll get it all figured out."

That sort of resolve in the face of a tough situation is what makes Francona such a good manager for this team and what makes this team so unflappable. Even if they lose ground in the division in the short term, there's a general sense that they'll be fine in the long run.

"We need him," said Ramirez of his injured teammate, but he was quick to also point out "we got a really good team."