Werth targeting Aug. 1 return

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Jayson Werth has been a presence in the Nats dugout while on the DL.

Jayson Werth's broken left wrist is recovering well, and the Nationals right fielder remains on target to return to the club around August 1, perhaps earlier.

Werth, who suffered the injury May 6 while diving for a ball against the Phillies, is now six weeks removed from surgery to repair the clean break. The veteran outfielder spoke to manager Davey Johnson yesterday and expressed optimism about his recovery.

Werth's cast has come off, but he likely won't be able to resume baseball activities until mid-July. He'll then try to ramp things up quickly in an attempt to return to the Nationals' lineup for the final two months of the regular season.

"[Doctors will] probably need to X-ray it in a couple weeks, but they felt like he was coming along probably a little ahead of schedule," Johnson said. "But he's still probably not going to be able to do anything until after the All-Star break, pretty good ways past the All-Star break. The injury was so severe with that plate in there, it's going to have to be fully healed before he can do any baseball stuff."

Meanwhile, injured bench player Chad Tracy said he's made significant progress following surgery three weeks ago to repair a torn groin muscle. Tracy, who led the majors in pinch-hit RBI when he got hurt, has been swinging and throwing without any pain and is shooting to begin a rehab assignment around the All-Star break.

"He's doing better than I thought he'd be doing," Johnson said. "The doctor did say he could do baseball stuff. So I look for him probably shortly after the All-Star break. He might be pretty close to being back.

In other injury news, reliever Henry Rodriguez (finger strain) is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment with Class AAA Syracuse tonight, while fellow right-hander Cole Kimball (torn labrum) tossed a scoreless inning today in his first rehab appearance with the Nationals' rookie Gulf Coast League team in Viera, Fla.