Wells Has Successful Surgery on Blood Clot

Surgery to remove blood clots in Kip Wells' hand was successful, the official website of the Colorado Rockies reported on Wednesday. The pitcher had been placed on the disabled list as of April 30, but the team had been relatively quiet about his surgery beforehand.

Wells' condition will be re-evaluated on Wednesday, but he did avoid further surgery on a previously repaired artery under his right collar bone. He is out indefinitely.

[...]In March 2006, Wells underwent surgery to repair a complete blockage of the axillary artery, which was replaced by a vein in his leg. That procedure also was performed by Dr. Thompson. Wells returned to pitch in nine Major League games that season, going 2-5 with a 6.50 ERA.

Of course, all the best to Wells and his family as he recovers. It's a little terrifying that Wells has already had a similar surgery, in only that it feels like something that he should probably use to take a serious step back from baseball and make sure his health is in check. On the other hand, maybe it shows that Wells and/or the Rockies medical staff is doing something right to catch this, both times, before it became a much more serious problem.

Which it actually could be, in terms of endangering his career; blood clots can only continue to surface before teams -- and Wells himself -- will start to ask questions about the safety of him as a major league pitcher. As Lackey pointed out, both times he has returned quickly, but the continued emergence of blood clots is certainly disconcerting.