"I had an epidural shot. Now it's just giving it a day or two to settle in. I'm not really doing much of anything right now." Roberts said he doesn't have a specific date in mind when he'll need to begin playing so he can be ready for the April 6 opener. Manager Dave Trembley would like to get him 20-25 at-bats. "There's a time frame where, at some point, you've got to get on the field if you're going to make it for Opening Day," Roberts said. "As the days go by, the closer you get, obviously." Roberts isn't more encouraged or discouraged since the last time I stood at his locker. "They said it would take 48-to-72 hours for (the epidural) to settle in," he said. "At this point, it's just kind of waiting to see how it goes. I'm not feeling either way. I got a treatment and now you wait for it to work. "You work all winter and you come here and you want to get out there and play and you want to be with the guys. It gets old sitting in the training room and it gets old not playing. I have my moments when I'm frustrated, but the most important goal is April 6. You go through your times when you feel better about things than others." With the way this camp is set up, Roberts can get plenty of at-bats once he's healthy by heading to the back fields and leading off every inning in the minor league games. "The biggest thing is getting healthy and giving yourself that opportunity to have those days and do it," he said. "Even if you can go over there and do that, the first day you can't get nine at-bats. Your body's not ready for that. You do still have to have some days to play with in order to be able to do that. That's what we're still looking for, how much longer do we have to play with that?"