Timetable for Cards' Ryan up in the air

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A simple reading of the timetable for Brendan Ryan's rehabilitation timetable from right wrist surgery goes something like this: Ryan wants to hurry back as quickly as possible, while the Cardinals want him to be cautious. The simple reading is probably a bit too simple, but not much.

Ryan knows his own tendency to rush and to be, at times, overly enthusiastic. So he's trying to make sure he doesn't get ahead of himself.

"[I have to] make sure that I have a good understanding of what the big picture is, and remind myself of that not only daily, but hourly," he said.

Thus far, though, Ryan's rehab has gone very well. He didn't do any significant work on Wednesday, giving his wrist a chance to rest after two days of progress. But he expects to get right back to action Thursday. And within two weeks, he expects to be taking batting practice.

"Batting practice should be ... the Monday after next [March 15]," Ryan said, "and then playing, like, the 21st or 22nd -- assuming all goes well."

However well it goes, manager Tony La Russa wants to make sure Ryan doesn't risk his season in order to make an arbitrary deadline. As such, he's declined to answer whether he expects Ryan to play in any Grapefruit League games before the Cardinals break camp.

"I just think it's a bad question to answer," La Russa said. "If I say 'No,' he might push it to prove them wrong. If I say 'Yes,' and he's not ready, he's going to push it. The thing you want to do is just go day by day with him. If he has a setback, slow him down. If he's feeling good, speed it up a little bit."

So far, Ryan has had no setbacks. He even played second base and first base in the Cardinals' intrasquad game on Wednesday, though he didn't throw with his right hand. When he caught a ball, he flipped it with his glove hand.

He's still targeting Opening Day, even as he tries to make sure he doesn't get too far ahead of himself.

"It doesn't seem realistic to me," Ryan said of the possibility of missing the April 5 opener. "That one never seemed realistic to me. I never saw myself not ready for Opening Day, even to this last minute. I don't know. That's what I'm shooting for. That's my plan. But if there's any chance or risk, I'm not going to be stupid. Three games is not worth losing a season."