Jacoby Ellsbury's foot injury was not exacerbated by a week of playing on it according to Scott Lauber, bringing more good news to a saga that has proved far less scary than it initially seemed.
Of course, observant fans will note that this is a bit of an obfuscation. Jacoby Ellsbury almost certainly did not get off scott free for that week of playing time. Not unless the team was fibbing about the swelling and pain that set off the series of exams that revealed Ellsbury's fractured foot (they weren't). This is the real meaning:
According to a baseball source, tests administered over the weekend led doctors in both Boston and Denver to believe that Ellsbury "could not have damaged the bone further nor will he" once he returns. Likewise...a comparison of X-rays and MRI scans taken after the initial injury occurred Aug. 28 and last weekend supported the notion that Ellsbury didn't make things worse by playing.
What we're talking about here, then, seems to be structural damage. Ellsbury's injury, with the swelling and pain that came with it, is not a non-factor. But it is something that can be played through, and so far all sides seem to agree that, with the Red Sox in the position they're in, there will come a time for Ellsbury to do that. The trick for the Red Sox will be timing it right, so that Ellsbury gets enough time to get back in the swing of things before the really important games, but doesn't end up putting too much stress on that foot to the point where it starts hampering him in later games.