Kip to miss 5-8 months?

[Witlon]

Credit: Rotoworld.com

Kip Wells was found to have total blockage of the axillary artery in his pitching arm. If he elects for surgery, he'll likely miss five to eight months.
Wells was examined Saturday in St. Louis by Dr. Robert Thompson, a surgeon who specializes in blood clots, after complaining of arm fatigue in his right arm. The angiogram revealed that Wells had complete clot in the main artery, located under the clavicle, which supplies blood to the upper extremities. Wells is expected to receive a second opinion, but he's probably going to need the surgery. The Pirates apparently will have to include two from the group of Victor Santos, Ian Snell, Ryan Vogelsong and Sean Burnett in their rotation at the start of the year. A trade of Craig Wilson for pitching help also appears more likely now. Feb. 26 - 3:33 pm et

And another link... http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_yl...v=ap&type=lgns

BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) -- Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Kip Wells has a blood clot close to his right arm, and his season is in jeopardy.

General manager Dave Littlefield described the clot as a "100 percent blockage" of an artery under the clavicle, the primary vessel that carries blood from the chest to the arms.

The 28-year-old Wells told the team he still must determine whether he wants to get a second opinion before having surgery, a decision he is expected to make within two days. If Wells has surgery, he would likely miss five to eight months.

Wells' condition was first detected late last week at spring training and formally diagnosed Saturday in St. Louis by Dr. Robert Thompson, a vascular surgeon at Washington University. Thompson conducted an angiogram, a procedure that involves the insertion of a catheter in the groin, to confirm his initial tests.

Littlefield said Wells' case never reached an emergency level, as some blood clots do. But he added that the team acted swiftly once its doctors noticed Wells had dramatically different pulse readings in each arm.

"There's always a concern in regard to aneurysms, clots and things like that," Littlefield said. "But we moved on it very, very quickly."

Wells pitched a staff-high 182 innings last season and showed no signs of the ailment until this spring, Littlefield said. Wells complained of arm fatigue early in spring training, but didn't miss any of his three scheduled pitching sessions.

"Players work hard in the offseason and don't want to have setbacks," Littlefield said. "But I think he's anxious, too, to get it resolved."

The Pirates were expecting Wells to be one of the top two starters in their rotation. The right-hander is coming off a disappointing season -- he was 8-18, the most losses in the majors, with a 5.08 ERA. But he has performed far better in the past and had encouraging early results working with new pitching coach Jim Colborn.

[Fishercat]

For a team on a limited budget, they really can't afford losing one of their better pitchers (not saying much) to a freaking blood clot. The odds of that have to be low.

[Witlon]

I've been saving my comments on this, so I figured I'd say it now.

This may be good for the Pirates in a round about way. Burnett or Maholm's chances of being in the rotation is alot better now than it would've been with Kip in the picture. Getting those guys(especially Burnett) time against major league pitching will make them alot more valuable next year(when we have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs.)

Maybe addition by subtraction isn't the answer, I just have a good feeling about Kip's replacements.