As he was being helped off the field after an elbow-ripping injury Sept. 20 at Yankee Stadium, Brian Roberts kept thinking, "Am I ever going to play baseball again?"

After undergoing surgery to repair a torn ligament and tendon in his left elbow, plus four months of intense rehabilitation, the answer is "yes." The Baltimore Orioles' All-Star second baseman, winner of the Raleigh Hot Stove League's Will Wynne Award on Tuesday, said, "My goal is to be ready to play on opening day."

Dr. Timothy Kremchek, the chief orthopedic surgeon for the Cincinnati Reds, operated on Roberts and said, "From a health standpoint, he'll be able to start at second base" when the Orioles start the 2006 season April 3.

Major leaguers Tony Womack, Jason Grimsley, Ryan Dempster, Scott Williams and Todd Coffey are other patients of Kremchek who have bounced back from similar surgeries.

For the right-handed Roberts, the injury short-circuited a sparkling season in which he batted a career-high .314, belted 18 home runs and earned a spot on the American League All-Star team.

So he has spent the offseason grinding through arduous rehabilitation, five hours a day, six days a week -- stretching, swinging, lifting, running, praying all will be well.

The injury came at a bad time for Roberts, who started his collegiate career at North Carolina but transferred to South Carolina after his father, Mike, resigned under pressure as UNC's baseball coach after the 1998 season.

Last year, he earned $390,000 in salary, plus a $25,000 bonus for making the All-Star team. But that big season positioned him for even bigger dollars, and he is now in the middle of contract arbitration.

Roberts, who is 5 feet 9 and 180 pounds, hit 50 doubles and stole 29 bases in 2004 for the Orioles, his fourth year in the majors. But last season was his breakthrough, and he's asking for $3.6 million in arbitration. The Orioles are offering $2.4 million. Generally, players can expect to strike a deal about midway between the asking and offering amounts.

His agent, Mark Pieper of SFX Baseball, won't speculate about the negotiations. But he said of his client, "[Brian's] one of the best guys in baseball, in terms of personality, work ethic, work in the community. He's a great teammate. Everybody I talk to loves playing with him."

Roberts, 28, was in Raleigh in November to speak at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes banquet attended by about 1,200 people, some of whom remembered him as a child.

From the time he was knee-high to a fungo, he hung out at the ballpark with his father at UNC.

He was born with a heart problem that required surgery at age 5 and was undersized for a major league prospect. But Roberts burned with desire and learned from his dad how to throw, catch, switch hit and run the bases.

"I don't think there's any way I would have made it [without him],' " Brian said of his father.

At the Athletes' Performance Institute in Tempe, Ariz., Roberts is testing his baseball skills carefully while rehabbing. He can throw right-handed without restrictions. He also goes through swinging motions, but not with a bat.

"When I was first swinging, it was a little more difficult left-handed, to get my hand out and roll over," said Roberts, adding that he'll know more about what he can do in the batter's box once he's back at full strength.

Kremchek doesn't think he'll have a problem, observing that Roberts has complete motion and strength in his elbow.

"He should be full go by mid-March," Kremchek said.

Even at full go, sustaining a .300 batting average in the big leagues is a big challenge.

The 162-game regular-season schedule is an endurance test, mentally as well as physically. But Roberts has gotten stronger through rigid offseason workouts and also has learned how to prepare better psychologically for the grind.

"I've always been hard on myself," he said, but he now tries not to let an 0-for-4 day discourage him. "You're going to have a bad two-[to]-three weeks. You have to realize it's a marathon."