When Brian Roberts was recovering from that awful elbow injury in the spring of 2006, he did not make his first exhibition appearance until March 21. He would play in a total of 10 spring games and bat .353 (12-for-34) with four doubles.
Maybe that's why Roberts seems unconcerned that he might miss Opening Day. He still thinks he has plenty of time to get in shape and get enough at-bats.
"That was the year of my elbow,'' he said. "I had no concerns about that either and I was more concerned then because I was coming off something that certainly was a lot more major than this -- at this point. I'm not coming off anything like that, it's just trying to get your body to the point where it's 100 percent."
Roberts underwent surgery on Sept 30, 2005 to reconstruct the ulnar collateral ligament and repair a torn tendon. Then-manager Sam Perlozzo put him back in the lineup for the last two weeks of the preseason and played him on a two-days-on, one-day-off schedule.