" Adrian Beltre continues to make progress from the calf strain that has kept him off the field for a week now. And it's likely that he won't play when the original "10-14 day" approximation of missed time expires.

And, at this point, that is really no big deal.

Players rarely recover from spring training injuries in the time frame announced by a club at the time of the injury. It's not a club trying to be deceptive. It's just trainers and doctors all get involved in the process and the general consensus is to proceed cautiously. Better to miss three or four extra spring training games than to deal with a calf strain all year. In the case of Beltre, who is new to the Rangers, guessing at a recovery time was especially difficult at the outset because nobody really had background with how quickly he heals.

"I don't think we are going to be overly-aggressive in pushing him," assistant GM Thad Levine said Thursday. "He's progressing and the symptoms are diminishing. We didn't put an 'X' next to the 10th or 14th day and say he's got to be ready then. We've been given no cause for concern that he wouldn't be ready for Opening Day."

For pitchers, missing time during spring training is much more critical. For hitters, at-bats can be piled up in minor league games and simulated games late in camp. In 1999, Rafael Palmeiro missed almost all of the Rangers spring training schedule while recovering from knee surgery, then took about 10 at-bats a game in minor league exhibitions on the final week of camp to get himself locked it. He ended up hitting 47 homers and driving in 148 runs that season."