By Spike Eskin

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Charlie Manuel said that Ryan Howard suffered a setback in his rehab. Then, the team was quick to say that wasn’t the case.  Opinion outside of the team seems to agree the truth is somewhere in between.

Phillies trainer Scott Sheridan indicated that Howard has an open wound at the site of his Achilles surgery that isn’t healing exactly as planned. He will see a specialist today to look at the area.

“It does not sound like a huge deal, if it sets him back, if anything, it’s a day or two,” Todd Zolecki, Phillies beat writer for MLB.com, told 94 WIP’s Angelo Cataldi and The Morning Team on Monday. “Charlie [Manuel] did say setback the other day, but that same day Ryan Howard was participating in drills, he was taking [batting practice], he was crushing balls to right field over at the Carpenter Complex.” The fact that the the Phillies training staff allowed Howard to continue training was a sign to Zolecki that Howard’s issue was not a very serious one.

Listen to the interview with Todd Zoelcki:

Dr. David Craft of OrthopaediCare also joined Cataldi to give his take on Howard’s condition. “Part of understanding what’s going on is taking a little step back and taking a look a the big picture,” he said. “Notoriously, there are skin related problems that often crop up [after this surgery]. You may call them setbacks, but we think they’re pretty typical. Often up to six months to a year after the surgery. I think our expectation that at four months, this was going to be a done deal that he was going to be completely better and ready to go was probably unreasonable.”

Listen to the interview with Dr. David Craft:

Do you think this setback will be a serious one for Ryan Howard? Let us know in the comments.