Jimmy Rollins sounds bearish on Ryan Howard's return
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Jimmy Rollins sounds bearish on Ryan Howard's return
David Murphy
Jayson Stark, the venerable ESPN.com scribe and former Inquirer beat writer, has an interesting piece on the web site right now. It's always interesting to get the national perspective on things, and Stark's perspective sounds a lot like the local perspective.
But the thing that really jumped out at me was this passage, where Stark talks to Jimmy Rollins about Ryan Howard's battle with an infection near his surgically-repaired Achilles.
"I don't know what to think, honestly," Rollins tells Stark. "If you ask me, with this infection, I don't know if he's going to play this year, because after all the work that he's done, now he's got to hit the reset button."
Now, as Jayson points out, Rollins is not a doctor. But he is an athlete, as well as a friend of Howard's, and the fact that even he hasn't ruled out Howard missing the season should tell you something.
It should be noted that Howard did a light work-out today. And he sounded optimstic during a chat with reporters, which you can read about here.
"I mean, the leg is naturally going to atrophy if it's in a boot all this time and you're not getting the full use out of it," Rollins continued. "So he's built up strength, but it's not like he was 100 percent [before]. Now he needs to take a step back, and he's probably back down to the 25 to 40 percent range. . ."
"And it's a tough injury," Rollins goes on. "It's not like he's 150 pounds. He's a big man. And that's a very important part of his game, being able to be on his legs. He doesn't use his legs for speed like me. He uses his legs for power. So if he doesn't have any [strength in his] legs, all that power just goes away.
"Oh, he's definitely out for two months. I can pretty much guarantee you that," Rollins says. "And probably nothing before the All-Star break, unless it's like Albert Pujols' fracture [which magically healed itself in two weeks last summer]."
For the whole story, click here.
Lol, fear mongering works on Philly faithful more than any other fanbase. Ryno will be back by mid-June or 1st of July at the latest. Relax people. With that pitching staff, they will be in first place by July with ME playing 1b. My career OPS is 0.0000— SilliBilli- Yes he will just bring him along real slow— Slyy
- Two words: Michael Cuddyer.— Richard S
- Actually, that's four words. — PhightinPhil
- People are so spoiled five great years in a row and now with the possibility of one down year(although I still think they will be in series) people get all mad. remember the lean years of the late 70s and middle 80s and the 90s and appreciate what an exciting time it is to be a fan.— flyinnhigh
- Jimmy really shouldn't voice his opinion on teammates health/recovery to the national media. It is more than just kind of irresponsible, especially for a veteran player and team leader. He should leave that to the talk radio knuckleheads.— mcourtne
I actually think Howard was rushing back. If he needs a whole year to make a full recovery, so be it. He's too valuable to the future to rush him back. ....and Liberty Bell, how have they "lied to us again." Where's the lie?— John621- been saying this all winter -- clueless rube spends over $170 mil. budget -- literally throwing money away on overpaid closer, overpaid shortstop and a spot starter -- but doesn't even have a cleanup hitter for the year (Nix? Thome? -- shoudldn't even be in mlb any more)... how much more do all you clueless fans need to be convinced of the man's incredible ineptitude? the roster has 10 players who are not legit major leaguers, no offense, no bench, no bullpen other than its overpaid closer - theiy'll win games only when one of their big 3 starters throws a shutout and Chollie and the bullpen doesn't blow it...— warbiscuit
- Ryan Howard is no longer an every day player. He needs to go to AL as a DH. That is only way for him to prolong his playing career. He is a big man and its likely one injury after another from now on.— Kioto
- Whether he is out for the season or not, here is what the Phillies need to do to get him ready to hit at some point: put him in a red man suit for several hours per day. Stand him at the plate with a bat. No swinging allowed. No diving out of the way. And then bring up every pitcher on the roster to throw him "batting" practice. With this approach, he will almost certainly (we hope) learn what constitutes the strike zone and will get a better feel (we hope) for what different pitches look like as they are coming in (especially the slider low and away). I'm not sure if teams have ever done this, but this guy needs help with his mental approach at the plate. It's a novel idea, and it may just work. It's worth a shot.— Penfold18
- Don't expect much from him until 2013.— escapedcamden4monterey
Comment removed.- flyinhigh --what's 'exciting' about a team with no offense, no bench or bullpen for past 3 years, whose g.m. traded away all its prospects, and whose only chance to ever win a game is when one of its top 3 starters throws a shutout....Phils teams of 2005 through 2008 were 'exciting' with a core of terrific players in their prime, a g.m. who understood how to build a team and how to address needs, an offense that always fought back and was never out of a game and the team improving until it won the ultimate championship in 2008..I can't think of a less exciting team to follow than the sinking rapidly declining 2012 Phillies: Nix, Thome, Pierre, Qualls, Herndon, Schneider, Willis, Martinez -- wow real exciting there— warbiscuit
- Please, just make the jump and follow the Mets right now. The Wilpons will be happy to put up with your madness in exchange for a few bucks. Something tells me you would fit right in up in Flushing. Other then Gio Gonzalez, Michael Bourn, & Gavin Floyd(all of whom were dealt prior to Rubes tenure as GM) not particularly chuffed about losing Kyle Drabek, JA Happ, Carlos Carrasco, Jason Donald, or Jason Knapp. Would have liked to have retained D'Arnaud and Lou Marson. Michael Taylor jury is still out. Otherwise, it's not like we dealt Mickey Mantle. What prospects did we lose that generate the angst?! — Special Agent Fox Mulder
- War biscuit, offense is not the only exciting part of baseball, exciting is having a chance to win every night, great pitching, a fun division race, compared to most other mlb teams the phillies are a terrific team to follow and why fans who have had 5 straight good years expect every year to be awesome is beyond me. Its a long season, relax enjoy and remember, in the end its still only a game for entertainment and summertime fun.— flyinnhigh
