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When Corey Hart needed knee surgery this spring he went out of his way to tell reporters he's a quick healer, and raised the possibility that he'd rejoin the team in April. The team was less optimistic, and set a timetable for May.
May came and went, and Hart was moved to the 60-day DL to free up a roster spot. Now it's late June, and not much has changed. Doug Melvin recently suggested that we may not see Hart until after the All Star break, but now even that seems unlikely.
Today Tom Haudricourt reports (behind the JS paywall, of course) that continued setbacks in Hart's rehab have pushed back his potential return even further. Haudricourt uses words like "dejected" to describe Hart, and suggests that "it's not completely out of the question that he will miss the entire season, though nobody is ready to say that yet."
Honestly, at this point I'm ready to say it. After being led to believe that Hart was close to returning for three months now, I'm at the point where I'll be surprised if we see him at all in 2013. And make no mistake: this team misses him as much as any Brewer team has ever missed anyone.
Brewer first basemen are hitting .180/.222/.284 this season. That's only nominally better than Brewer pitchers, who are hitting .208/.214/.272. It's time to move forward at this position, and admitting that Hart isn't about to ride to the rescue is the first step.