HeraldNet: Pitching coach Adair sees a bright side to Lee's foot surgery



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Mariners Blog

February 8, 2010

Pitching coach Adair sees a bright side to Lee's foot surgery

Posted at 7:11 pm by By Kirby Arnold

The average Mariners fan might have panicked more than a little when word went out this afternoon that Cliff Lee had foot surgery on Friday.

Back in South Carolina, where Mariners pitching coach Rick Adair is spending his final week at home before spring training, the mood was more relief than concern. Adair noted that Lee pitched 272 innings last year -- 231 2/3 in the regular season and 40 1/3 in the postseason -- and a few extra weeks might help much more than his left foot to be fully ready for the season.

"It might be a silver lining in a way," Adair said. "It might kind of slow him down.
It appears that he’s real anxious and ready to get going, so it could be one of those things that was meant to be."

Lee did pile up more innings like nobody else in several years. In fact, no pitcher had thrown as many innings -- regular season and playoffs combined -- since Curt Schilling pitched 305 innings and Randy Johnson 291 during the Arizona Diamondbacks' World Series run in 2001.

Lee had a bone spur removed from his left (pushoff) foot and the Mariners say he should return to full baseball activity in two to three weeks. Adair said if that timetable holds, Lee should be ready when the regular season begins.

"That question has not been raised at all," said Adair, who wasn't aware of Lee's foot problem until recently. "He decided this was the action he thought he needed to take, to do this and not have a situation all year long where he would need to have it injected (to kill pain)."