Drew: Hamstring injury continues to 'linger'

J.D. Drew said Monday from his Georgia home that the left hamstring problem he experienced throughout the 2010 season hasn't completely gone away, allowing for some uncertainty heading into spring training.

"I don't think it's going to be a major issue when I get to camp, but there are going to be some questions from me when I get there to make sure that thing is good," Drew explained. "I'm kind of in the process now of doing some light running to see where I'm at. It feels better than it did, but that being said, baseball speed is a lot different workout speed."

Drew said that the problem area resides just above his hamstring and below his gluteus muscle, an area that hasn't been able to receive enough blood-flow to promote the healing process.

The 35-year-old outfielder sought out platelet rich plasma (PRP) therapy in December, a measure that thins out the existing blood and replaces it with blood which will better promote the healing process.

"I've had the whole offseason trying to figure out what direction we have to go to heal it up. It seems to feel a little bit better with exercise and things like that. We'll see where it ends up when I get down to camp," Drew said. "But that thing really bugged the heck out of me for the whole second half of the season. It was extremely painful. It wasn't like it was blown out or anything, but it wouldn't allow me to extend it out to run like I wanted to. I dealt with it. Day games were really brutal on it because getting out of bed and trying to get warmed up for a one o'clock game was really tough. I was able to manage most of the night games.

"I'm hoping it will be a non-issue, but that being said it is aggravating because it is one of those things that has lingered. It's just in a spot that doesn't get a lot of blood flow. It's not the belly of the hamstring, but just the attachment point. It gets irritated and when it does it's extremely painful when trying to run down fly balls and running down the line. That being said, it is a lot stronger than it was during the season, so hopefully that will help overcome some of the issue when I get into camp and we can ease into things are good and go from there."

Drew — who began his workouts this offseason earlier than normal and classified his offseason as "one of the better ones in a long time," — played in 139 games in '10, starting 127. He hit .255 with 22 home runs and 68 RBI while finishing with an on-base percentage of .341, his lowest since 1999 (his first season in the major leagues).

The outfielder is the final season of five-year, $70 million deal with the Red Sox.

For more on Drew, with the outfielder discussing topics such as what his future holds and the problems he faced at the plate in '10, click here. [1]