"When the injury was still fresh and the cast had just come off his surgically repaired right ankle, a dark thought crossed Stephen Drew's mind. He wondered if he would ever play baseball again.

Now, a little more than a week before he plans to report to Salt River Fields for spring training, the Diamondbacks shortstop doesn't wonder if he'll play. He wonders when.

"I'm optimistic," Drew said. "Hopefully I will start Opening Day, but I don't know. I'm not going to sit here and lie to your face and be like, 'I'll be ready for Opening Day.' I can't tell you that right now.

"It takes time. How much time? I don't know. I know one thing, I'll be playing this year at some point. I wish I knew that answer. I can't see the future."

The road back from the gruesome injury he suffered on a slide into home in July has been grueling, both physically and mentally. Since July, he's been waking up at 5:30 every morning for physical therapy. His down time this off-season consisted of a quick trip home before Thanksgiving.

The sailing hasn't been entirely smooth. There have been bad days, bad weeks even, times when his ankle was so sore he couldn't make much progress.

But he feels like he turned a corner three weeks ago. Instead of two steps forward being followed by a step back, he's been steadily getting better every day."