Limbo is not the place Jeff Francis wants to be, especially with spring training a mere 18 days away.
But that’s where the Rockies’ lefty starter finds himself. He admitted Monday that his ailing left shoulder, while showing slight signs of improvement, will likely prevent him from opening the regular season as part of the starting rotation. How long he might be out no one knows.
“I won’t be on the same timetable as the other guys, but at this point I plan to be ready some time during spring,” he said. “Whether I’ll be pitching at the start of the season for the Rockies, I don’t think that’s looking very good. It’s a day-to-day thing. Some days it feels really good and a lot better than others. I think putting a timetable on it is jumping the gun.”
While he has yet to throw off the mound this offseason, he said Monday was a good day as he threw with limited pain from 90 feet.
“I would say that on a 1-to-10 scale of pain, Jeff was about a 2 today,” pitching coach Bob Apodaca said. “I think that’s encouraging.”
Francis had a cortisone shot earlier this month. That seemed to have helped relieve some of the pain and inflammation in his shoulder, which bothered him throughout the 2008 season.
“When you get an injection, you can see some immediate improvements,” Apodaca said. “Then you want to see two or three weeks down the line if it’s done any long-term good. I think with Jeff we are just going to have to wait and see what this is all about. Right now, there is nothing definite with what the problem is.”
The Rockies are officially calling Francis’ injury “left shoulder inflammation.” Francis offers a more precise description of what’s happening when he throws the baseball.
“It’s the tendon right at the release point, and it’s a sharp pain right in the front of my shoulder,” he said.
General manager Dan O’Dowd said: “I’m optimistic that Jeff is optimistic, but we are just going to have to wait and see. Sometimes MRIs don’t always show if something is wrong. The player often knows more than anyone else, so we’ll have to see how Jeff feels. If he doesn’t get better, we’ll have to circle the wagons and go from there.”
Francis is continuing a workout routine designed to strengthen the small, stabilizing muscles in his left shoulder. This month, he had a magnetic resonance imaging test that “showed nothing out of the ordinary.” Asked if he considered surgery, Francis said it was “a last resort at this point.”
His shoulder began hurting in May after Francis stumbled out of the gate, going 0-2 with a 5.01 ERA in five April starts. He was put on the disabled list from June 29-Aug. 6. The Rockies shut him down for good after his Sept. 12 start. Francis tried to pitch through the pain and kept his shoulder woes to himself.
“I didn’t have a hint until we shut Jeff down and put him on the disabled list,” Apodaca said. “He threw all of his side sessions.”
Francis finished the 2008 season 4-10 with a 5.01 ERA, a long tumble from 2007 when he was the staff ace (17-9, 4.22). He doesn’t blame his injury for his disappointing season.
“I’m not going to say that’s why I was bad,” he said. “I still feel like I could have gone out and pitched better than I did.”
This season, he wants to be pain-free before taking the mound.
“It’s not an easy thing to go through when you want to be on the mound as quickly as possible. You want to be going through spring with your teammates and stay healthy,” Francis said. “But I am not going to be the pitcher I need to be unless I’m pain-free. I don’t think I’m a long way away from getting there, but it’s going to be longer than I originally hoped.”
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com
