Phil Sheridan: Phillies have a crew to replace Howard

CLEARWATER, Fla. - It is going to take a village to replace Ryan Howard in the Phillies lineup.

The good news is that general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. has assembled one. A group that includes Ty Wigginton, John Mayberry Jr., Jim Thome, Hunter Pence, and Laynce Nix will fill holes left by the fallen Howard in the cleanup spot and at first base.

The bad news is that they will likely have to man those vital spots for quite a while. It does no good to panic over Howard's progress from a torn Achilles tendon, but it's appropriate to be concerned. The infection that set Howard back a couple of weeks will have a multiplier effect. It is going to take him that much longer to regain his fitness, that much longer to recover his stroke at the plate.

How long? It's hard to guess. Everyone recovers at a different rate. Injuries in one part of the body can lead to problems elsewhere.

Mehmet Okur of the New Jersey Nets tore an Achilles during the 2010 NBA playoffs. He missed the start of the 2010-11 season, came back about six months after the surgery, and started having back trouble. The back problems made it hard for him to do the necessary rehabilitation work on the Achilles and he played in just 13 games last year. Okur has been limited by back problems this season, too.

Dan Persa, who went to high school in Bethlehem, Pa., tore his Achilles in November of his junior season at Northwestern. The school started, then scrapped, a Heisman campaign for the quarterback when he missed the first three games of his senior year. Persa returned to action on Oct. 1 of last year, nearly 11 months after surgery.

Michigan State basketball player Kalin Lucas tore his Achilles in March 2010. He was back for the start of the season in November, seven months after surgery. Lucas, a guard, didn't miss a game his senior year.

Plenty of other athletes, from David Beckham to Tiger Woods, have torn an Achilles tendon. The three examples are recent and provide a range of scenarios. Okur is a big man (bigger even than Howard) who is still working his way back nearly two years after his original injury. Persa took nearly a year and said he felt he was at "80 percent" his whole senior season. Lucas' timetable would have Howard back on the field by June.

That sounds wildly optimistic, especially after an infection forced Howard to spend two weeks taking antibiotics instead of BP.

A year ago, the Phillies faced a similar situation when Chase Utley's sore knees kept him from joining the team until May. Just to deepen the intrigue, Utley has not appeared in a game yet and manager Charlie Manuel said he is "a long way" from doing so. The official word is that Utley is healthy and simply easing into action with an eye on the long season to come.

The Phillies and their fans certainly hope so. If it takes a village to replace Howard, it's probably not possible to replace him and Utley for a long stretch.

"Those guys are a big part of the team," Roy Halladay said. "I know we all missed Chase last year. We were still winning games, but you still miss those guys. You miss those guys being in the clubhouse, you miss them on the field. They're catalysts for the team."

The Phillies weathered Utley's absence and injuries to Jimmy Rollins and others. But Howard, for the most part, has always been there. Those who underestimate his impact in the middle of that lineup are about to get an object lesson.

Judging by Manuel's early lineups (and it's probably a mistake to read too much into them), the best guess is that Pence will hit fourth much of the time. Wigginton and Mayberry will split time at first base. If Thome spends time in the field at all, it will probably be very limited.

"We have qualified guys," Halladay said, "guys that are going to do a great job stepping in for him, but we're all going to be anxious to get him back. Ryan's a great player, but we have guys that can fill in. That's what we need."

It is good that the pressure of replacing Howard's production doesn't fall on any one player. The Big-Piece-by-committee approach has a much better chance of success. The more villagers there are, the better chance they have of carrying the weight. Basically, the Phillies need the combo of Pence, Mayberry, Wigginton, Nix, and Thome to give them what Howard, Raul Ibanez, and Dom Brown contributed last season.

That sounds more doable than replacing Howard with any one guy. And that approach is more sustainable, which may turn out to be the real issue.