Ortiz: 'I'm around 50 to 60 percent right now'

David Ortiz said after executing a series of agility drills prior to the Red Sox' series opener against the Twins Thursday that his injured Achilles tendon continues to make progress. There is, however, still some healing to do before he can be activated from the 15-day disabled list, he explained.

"I feel better," Ortiz  said. "The guys were a little surprised about how I was moving compared with when we tried it in New York. New York was absolutely pretty bad, I just took a couple of steps and I couldn't even walk in New York. 

"Right now you guys saw me moving right there, I would say I'm around 50 to 60 percent right now. And the doctors and trainers say I'm not going to be 100 percent when I come back to play but when we start doing the power drills and once I start feeling better I think I will be ready to go."

Ortiz admitted to being discouraged after attempting some running New York, but came to grips with the process after an explanation from the team's medical staff.

"Yeah I got a little frustrated I'm not going to lie to you," said Ortiz, who was eligible to come off the DL Wednesday. "When I started doing things in New York it was like I would say 10 to 11 days of my DL so I thought it was going to be better but the thing is that they didn't some treatment just to make me bleed a little bit down there and the doctor told me that after that treatment you were going to get sore so that is exactly what happened later on when I got to the field because I did it like in the morning so when I got to the field I got sore so I went back to limping bad but they said 48 hours later you're going to start feeling better and that's exactly what happened. So I'm finally seeing the light."

Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said prior to Thursday night's game that there was some hope that Ortiz might be able to return to the lineup at some point during the four-game series against Minnesota. But the designated hitter suggested there is still some work to do before identifying a timetable.

"I don't know yet. Hopefully, but I don't know," he said when asked about playing this weekend. "I can play with another flat wheel. I got a flat wheel for next year so yeah we got to get better though because I don't want to have any setbacks. This is something that is not a game. I was playing with soreness before I got into the situation when I stepped on second base. Once I shut it down I started learning about that injury I figured that it's an injury that can put you out for a long time if you don't take care of it. So I'm trying to get to the point where there are no risks."

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