There hasn’t been a shred of bad news regarding Chase Utley’s hip surgery and subsequent rehab over the winter. In fact, according to Utley and Charlie Manuel, he’s way ahead of schedule and an Opening Day return is very possible.

That’s all good, and knowing that Chase won’t miss a sizeable chuck of time is welcomed news.

But a word to the wise. Please be careful with Utley’s return. Every game is important, but rushing the All-Star second baseman back prematurely for April games if he isn’t ready would be an awful idea. Timetables for returns from injury are usually reliable, and I am always dubious about the recovery of someone who is “way ahead of schedule”.

This decision needs to made by the training staff, not Utley, for all the reasons that we love the guy. He is a down and dirty player who doesn’t want to miss a game. He plays hurt, doesn’t complain about it, and has a heart the size of the Liberty Bell. Do you think he really wants a 24 year old prospect with aspirations to be an everyday major leaguer taking his spot in the lineup everyday while he runs in the pool? Yeah, neither do I.

Chase and Co. don’t need some chump with a blog telling them that rehabbing and playing the game all out are 2 different things. But there is simply no good reason for Utley to return until he is truly 100% recovered. Not 90%. Not 95%. 100%. Anything less than that increases the chance of re-injury, and prolongs his ability to actually get back to where he was in the first half of 2008, when he was mashing the ball like no one else.

I trust the Phillies’ staff to handle this correctly. The Inquirer article explains how meticulous this process of rehabbing has been. Let’s just hope they apply the same level of scrutiny to his return date as they have his recovery.