BOSTON -- For the second consecutive day, the Boston Red Sox decided it would be best to cancel David Ortiz's scheduled baseball activities due to soreness in his right heel.
Instead, Ortiz was rehabbing in the pool on Monday afternoon at Fenway Park. He's been on the disabled list with a right Achilles strain since July 18 and is eligible to be activated on Wednesday, which appears to be a long shot at this point.
"I don't know if it was ever a goal," manager Bobby Valentine said. "Whenever he's ready. He's running in the pool and we'll take it from there. He's not far away but I don't know that Wednesday's the magical day. It will be sometime soon."
Ortiz began swinging a bat last Friday in New York and felt some soreness on Saturday. His agility work was canceled on Sunday, too.
"He's swinging OK. He doesn't seem like he's lost a lot of his rhythm or strength or timing," Valentine said. "He's only at about 80 percent when he's swinging because he's trying to keep away from making the situation any worse."
Ortiz told ESPNdeportesLosAngeles.com that he could neither jog nor bat in New York before the last game of the series between the Red Sox and Yankees, but he keeps receiving therapy on his right heel.
Ortiz went on the disabled list after straining his right Achilles tendon circling the bases on Adrian Gonzalez's homer on July 16. He took off his protective boot last week and took batting practice Friday for the first time.
On Saturday, he was scheduled to jog in the outfield and perhaps hit, but the rain prevented the Red Sox from working out normally.
"I can't say right now exactly when I'll be ready to play, let's see how the process goes," Ortiz said.
Ortiz has been by far the best Red Sox hitter this season, batting .316 with 23 homers and 58 RBIs. At the time of the injury, Ortiz was in the middle of an 11-game hitting streak, batting .429 during that stretch with 15 hits and 13 walks.
During the absence of Ortiz, Boston has used four players in the DH role, mostly Pedro Ciriaco and Cody Ross.
Information from ESPNDeportesLosAngeles.com's Enrique Rojas was used in this report.