Troy Glaus will not play at the beginning of the 2011 season, according to a Fox Sports report. It's unclear when Glaus will play again. "Troy had opportunities to sign with more than one club this offseason and each time he was presented with a particular opportunity, he weighed it against spending more time with his wife and family," agent Mike Nicotera said. "After a good deal of thought and discussion in each instance, he decided to pass on playing. At this point, Troy is just looking forward to becoming a dad for the first time and to being able to spend a spring at home for the first time in many years. As for his future in terms of baseball, he hasn't closed any doors permanently."

Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia is "getting better every day" as he looks forward to a healthy 2011 season. He was limited to just 75 games last season because of a non-displaced fracture in his left foot. "He's pretty much fully healed," a team source said. "He won't be having any specific restrictions on him. He's got to build his way back up to being able to run as much and be on his toes and do a lot of those things."

Twins closer Joe Nathan hopes to be on the mound for the team if needed in their season opener. Nathan, who underwent Tommy John surgery last year, asked Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire to step in the box against him. "I wasn't afraid to come inside and brush him back a couple times," Nathan said. "Anytime you're comfortable enough to tell your manager to step in and throw some inside, I think my release point went well." Gardenhire says the coaches have a plan for easing him back in and they want to be cautious with him to avoid his elbow getting hurt again. "We'll always err on the cautious side," Gardenhire said. "We'll try to do that with Nathan. We'll sit down and have our talk. I know he wants to be full bore because he's worked really hard. We'll have our talk soon and make sure we do the right thing."

Twins first baseman Justin Morneau continues to work his way back from a concussion suffered in July and is expected to begin swinging a bat soon. "Well, he called the other day and I had a great talk with him. I hadn't talked with him in probably a month and he told me that he has had a real good week of workouts," Minnesota general manager Bill Smith said. "He said he pushed it, I think he said - this was Monday night - so he said on Friday he pushed it about as hard as he can in any workout and he didn't have any problems. And that's a great thing for us." Morneau missed the second half of the season with the concussion. "Now he's at the point that the doctors told him if you have any small symptoms of that concussion just fight through it, just work through it and he said he's been feeling real good," Smith added. "He's doing all his conditioning work right now. He'll start the baseball activities. He did say he played catch the other day. He's going to start swinging the bat probably the first of February, which gives him two months before Opening Day. So I think we're right on track and we're very optimistic of getting him back."

Adrian Gonzalez tossed around a baseball on Monday for the first time since having surgery on his right shoulder. Gonzalez, who was traded to the Red Sox in December, has been diligently rehabilitating his shoulder since his procedure in late October. Assuming that his rehabilitation continues to go seamlessly, Gonzalez could start swinging a bat sometime in late February.

Braves third baseman Chipper Jones is progressing in his rehabilitation from left ACL surgery. Rather than retire following the injury, Jones is attempting a comeback. While hitting .265 with an .813 OPS over the past two seasons, Jones hasn't looked like a three-hole hitter that he was when he hit .342 with a 1.027 OPS from 2006-08. "One of the things that has concerned me over the past year-plus is the fact that the ball isn't coming off the bat the way I want it to, and it's not because I'm old," Jones said. "It's because I'm doing something fundamentally that's not right. "Right-handed, the ball is still coming off the bat the way that it should. Left-handed, it's just a little different. There are just a couple of tweaks that I've tried to make over the offseason that have really taken flight."

Johan Santana has been cleared to begin throwing as he continues rehabilitation from shoulder surgery. The Mets have not set a timetable for his return, but the left-hander isn't expected to pitch until June or July. Santana underwent surgery to repair a torn anterior capsule in his left shoulder in September.

Houston infielder Jeff Keppinger will have surgery on his left foot and miss the start of the season. The Astros said Friday that an injury sustained last Aug. 16, originally diagnosed as a sprained big toe, has not healed. The estimated recovery time is three to four months.