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Angels’ Mike Scioscia treads lightly on topic of Kendrys Morales

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Manager Mike Scioscia was so confident that Kendrys Morales would recover from 2010 surgery to repair a fractured left ankle that he declared at last year’s winter meetings that the first baseman would be ‘a full-go’ for spring training in 2011.

Morales, of course, suffered numerous setbacks and underwent a second surgery last June that knocked him out for the entire 2011 season.

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Morales has resumed light jogging on a ‘de-weighted’ treadmill and is taking batting practice in Arizona, but when asked asked about the slugger’s rehabilitation at the winter meetings Tuesday, Scioscia was more conservative in his response.

‘I have not seen him run yet, but swinging in the cage everything looks good,’ Scioscia said. ‘I think that last year we had such a confidence that he was coming back that I think we want to just tread lightly on this one and make sure that he’s [far] along before you start to get excited about it.’

Morales, who hit .306 with 34 homers and 108 RBIs in 2009, is not expected to begin aggressive workouts and full baseball activities until January, and the Angels probably won’t know until deep into spring training whether he’ll be able to play in 2012.

‘The second surgery he had really raised the confidence level from the doctors,’ Scioscia said. ‘Right now, how that ankle is going to be, where it’s going to be, there’s a lot of questions. How durable is it going to be? That remains to be seen.

‘The doctors really have no way of knowing, and we have no way of knowing until you get out there and start to do the things you need to do to play first base at the major-league level and swing the bat and run the bases.’

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