Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd said pitcher Jeff Francis might undergo exploratory surgery early in spring training on his ailing left shoulder but expressed hope Francis could avoid that medical step which would sideline him for the bulk of this season.

Jim Lindell, the agent for Francis, told ESPN.com that Francis has set Feb. 19, nearly one week into spring training, as a deadline to determine whether he'll need surgery on his inflamed shoulder, which hampered him last season and has kept him from throwing off a mound this winter.

"I know it's somewhere in the beginning of spring," O'Dowd said of a deadline for surgery, "because you don't want to run the risk that he's going to miss any of 2010. And we spent a whole winter trying to get him over the hump. So I know that time's coming; I don't know exactly (when)."

Francis underwent a second MRI exam early last month that revealed no structural damage in his shoulder. Lindell said Francis initially responded well to a cortisone injection but hasn't progressed lately. Fluid build-up in the front of Francis' shoulder, Lindell said, has caused persistent soreness and prevented the ball from coming out of Francis' hand the way it would if he was healthy.

"I still hold out hope that Jeff's going to have a breakthrough here," O'Dowd said. "I've been around a lot of players that have some scar tissue and they went through a throwing motion or a running motion and all of a sudden, something tore and they felt great and they never looked back.

If we get to surgery, we'll get to that point in time, but we're not there yet."