"Ryan Howard's recovery from surgery to repair a torn left Achilles tendon is moving along and he could be ready for baseball activities by the time spring training opens in mid-February.

Publicly, the Phillies are taking a wait-and-see approach on Howard's readiness for opening day.

Privately, the team probably has a much different mind-set. Privately, team officials may have already ruled out Howard for the April 5 season opener in Pittsburgh.

Why do we believe this?

Because the last couple of years, coinciding with head athletic trainer Scott Sheridan's rise, the team has become more conservative in the time it takes getting banged-up players back on the field. Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino took extra time with nagging leg injuries the last couple of seasons. The exception was Howard himself, who pushed it to come back quickly from a sprained left ankle late in the 2010 season. He was still bothered by the problem last spring."