Notes: Wells just happy to be back

03/25/2006
BRADENTON, Fla. -- Kip Wells called himself an optimist, which helps after the kind of misfortune that Well experienced earlier this Spring Training.
Wells underwent surgery on a blocked artery on March 6, and nobody, including Wells himself, knew with certainty what the prognosis for his return would be.
So, for the 28-year-old Wells, who returned to camp on Saturday morning, to speak optimistically about pitching is as good as the news can be, all things considered.
"It's good to get back here and be around your teammates and be around the game," Wells said. "Again, [these are] the steps of trying to recover from something like this that's gone on. So it's a fun day for me."
The fun quickly gave way to work, because Wells faces a recovery process that will take time, general manager Dave Littlefield said.
Littlefield outlined Wells' recovery program like this: long toss, sideline bullpen sessions, simulated games, extended Spring Training outings, periodic checkups in Pittsburgh and rehab outings in Triple-A. Throw all of that into a time frame, and a return to the Majors won't happen quickly.
"The sense is, with where we sit right now, that he's gonna be back and throwing for us in July," Littlefield said. "So we prepare in that way."
July is better than not at all, for the surgery Wells underwent is not insignificant. He's got three ugly scars on his body to prove it.
"A lot of these guys are looking forward to leaving in four or five days, and I'm just now showing up," said Well, who stated that he's ahead of where he thought he'd be. "So it's just kinda bittersweet. At the same time, it's the first stage of a process that hopefully won't take, you know, too terribly long."
Cut to 25? With the Pirates roster still at 40 players, Littlefield and manager Jim Tracy have decisions to make before camp breaks next week.
And the decisions will come when?
"I don't know, exactly," Littlefield said. "But that's something we'll have be doing at some point here soon."
No worry: If Victor Santos is worried about his head-to-head duel with Brandon Duckworth for a spot in the Pirates rotation, Santos didn't show it on Saturday.
After his 4 2/3-inning outing, he sounded like a man who is content with however the duel comes out.
"Whenever I go out there to pitch, I just want to throw the ball as good as I can, regardless of everything else," Santos said. "I don't think about anything else when I'm out there."
That's the same approach he's taken in his fight for a roster spot. He's not fretting it one bit -- or so it seems. Nor is the 29-year-old Santos overly concerned about when the Pirates will make their decision.
"It could be today, or it could be the last day of camp," said Santos, who went 4-13 with a 4.57 ERA for the Brewers. "It doesn't make a difference when they make it."
Maybe not to him, but Tracy is very interested in Santos and his performance. The race between Santos and Duckworth, who also worked against the Phillies, for the one open spot in the rotation is down to the home stretch.
"I thought they both did a great job," Tracy said of Saturday's efforts. "I thought they both did exactly what you wanted to see. ... Both guys passed today."
The question is: In 1952, Harry Heilmann, a star with the Tigers and the Reds in the first half of the 1900s, went into the Hall of Fame with one other person. That person was a Pirates star, but who was he?
Quote 'em: "I have an Alka Seltzer bat. You know -- plop plop, fizz fizz. When the pitcher sees me walking up there, they say, 'Oh what a relief it is.'" -- Former Pirates outfielder Andy van Slake, now a coach with the Tigers
Did you know: Jack Chesbro, who holds the Major League record for the most wins in a season, started his Hall of Fame career with Pittsburgh in 1899-1902. He went to the Yankees in 1903, and in '04, he won a record 41 games. Inducted into the Hall in 1946, Chesbro also set the all-time record with 48 complete games that season.
Numbers: On a brisk, sunny Saturday here, the Pirates drew 5,943 fans to McKechnie Field. The figure pushed the team's attendance total for Spring Training to 67,542.
Odds and ends: The Pirates will hold a 4 p.m. workout on April 2 at Miller Park, where they will open the season April 3 against the Brewers. ... The Pirates have sold 10,822 season-ticket packages, a figure that represents a 20-percent increase over the 8,880 the team sold last season. ... The Pirates will announce on April 28 the price and availability of tickets to the All-Star Game this summer in PNC Park. It will be the fifth time the All-Star Game has been held in "The Steel City" -- twice at Forbes Field (1944 and '59) and twice in Three Rivers Stadium (1974 and '94).
And the answer: It was outfielder Paul Waner who joined Heilmann in that two-man Hall of Fame class. Waner, nicknamed "Big Poison," got 83.3 percent of the votes cast, more than enough to get into Cooperstown. With his lifetime .333 average and 3,152 hits, some have to wonder why it took voters so long to select Waner.

Source: http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/