Franco still feels discomfort in wrist

MIAMI - The likelihood that Maikel Franco finishes his rookie season in the Phillies' lineup in the next 10 days is shrinking with each passing day of his rehab.

Franco, sidelined for the last six weeks with a left wrist fracture, is still experiencing some discomfort, manager Pete Mackanin said before the Phillies' game with the Miami Marlins last night. Franco left the team to begin rehabbing in Clearwater, Fla., last Thursday.

But after a week's time, it doesn't appear that Franco is progressing as he had hoped.

"When he swings the bat he doesn't feel anything, but when he makes contact there is some kind of a twinge there," Mackanin said. "With each day that passes, it appears more unlikely that he's going to come back. So we'll give it a few more days."

Doesn't it make sense just to shut down Franco (and Ryan Howard) with just 10 games left on the 2015 schedule?

"Part of it is, that makes sense, but on the other hand, these guys are still getting paid," Mackanin said. "If they're healthy, then we want them to play, we're paying them to play. So regardless if there's only five games left, if he's healthy, why shouldn't he play? He's getting paid. And I don't know the right answer."

It would seem sensible in Franco's case, though, since he just turned 23 and is considered to be a building block for the middle of the Phillies' lineup for the next decade. Why risk his wrist?

The answer: Both Franco and the Phillies would like for him to play in the Dominican Winter League, and they want to make sure he is healthy before he is cleared to begin that season.

"Before he leaves, we want to make sure he's 100 percent," Mackanin said. "Because if he's going to go to play winter ball, we can't let him leave knowing he's still bothered by whatever he has and allow him to play winter ball. We want to make sure. That's the whole idea behind that. It's almost like an exit physical. OK, he's 100 percent, he wants to play winter ball and we encourage it."

Since Franco hasn't even been cleared yet, the Phillies haven't worked out a winter schedule for him. Mackanin figured somewhere between 50 and 80 at-bats would be helpful for Franco this winter. (Franco racked up 147 in 38 games with the Gigantes del Cibao last offseason.)

"Every little bit helps," Mackanin said. "You learn a little bit more about yourself every time you play . . . If you can get a guy to play for three months to get more experience, that's beneficial to everyone."

But Franco won't be guaranteed to get that experience unless he's healthy. If he's still feeling discomfort in two weeks, when the Phillies' season is over, Franco will likely be re-examined. He was diagnosed with a "small, non-displaced" fracture in his left wrist a week after getting hit by a pitch from Arizona's Jeremy Hellickson on Aug. 11.

Franco is hitting .277 with 13 home runs, 48 RBI and a .830 OPS in 77 games with the Phillies this season. At the time of his injury, Franco led all major league rookies (minimum 300 plate appearances) in OPS and slugging percentage (.490).

Ryan Howard's work before last night's game in Miami was limited to stretching with his teammates and playing catch. Howard, out with a sore left knee since injuring it Sept. 14, hasn't hit in more than a week.

And his knee problem has grown more troublesome recently.

"He's had a history of having a baker's cyst on the back of his knee," Mackanin said. "That flared up. We're going to try to get that medicated. It's been slow coming, his rehab."

As with Franco, Howard is running out of time to get enough reps to get back into the lineup before the end of next weekend. He hasn't even been cleared for baseball activities yet.

Phillies rookie Alec Asher (0-4, 9.78) will pitch opposite fellow righthander Jarred Cosart (2-4, 4.43) in the final game of the Phils-Marlins series tonight. The 25-year-old Cosart, the Phillies' 38th-round pick in 2008, is 16-16 with a 3.49 ERA in 52 career games (51 starts) between the Marlins and Astros in the last three years . . . Entering play yesterday, the Phillies were 20 games over .500 (49-29) when they had scored four runs or more and 57 games under .500 (8-65) when they had scored fewer than four runs . . . On this day in Phillies history in 1911, the St. Louis Cardinals scored a run in the sixth inning off Grover Cleveland Alexander, snapping the rookie's 41 consecutive-inning scoreless streak. It's a Phillies record that still stands.

Blog: ph.ly/HighCheese