That sucks. I guess Atlanta will have to rely on one of the other eleventy billion stud pitching prospects they have.

Hudson (out until May at least from off-season back surgery)
Hanson (rotator cuff questions; recovering from a ST concussion)
Beachy
Jurrjens
Minor
Delgado
Teheran
Medlen

The ranks are thinning.

Hudson (out until May at least from off-season back surgery)
Hanson (rotator cuff questions; recovering from a ST concussion)
Beachy
Jurrjens
Minor
Delgado
Teheran
Medlen

The ranks are thinning.

As far as 2012 goes, I think that Vizcaino was expected to contribute mostly out of the bullpen. Of course, it's nice to have bullpen depth, too; I don't have much of a problem with Fredi Gonzalez, but he clearly relied too heavily on O'Flaherty, Venters, and Kimbrel last season.

Teheran and Vizcaino were both assumed to be returning to AAA to start. Delgado (just ahead of Teheran) is probably going to be the fifth starter until Hudson returns, though Medlen has inserted himself into that picture with some stellar starts. The problem is that Medlen is the fourth trusted arm out of the pen, and the lever to keep EOF, Venters and Kimbrel from being run into the ground again. Vizcaino's loss doesn't really impact Atlanta, per se, in 2012, so much as it's a set back for one of their top three arms.

Outside of EOF/Venters/Kimbrel/Medlen, Christhian Martinez, Jairo Ascensio and Anthony Vavaro might step into a larger role in the pen, with JJ Hoover down in AAA as needed.

Vizcaino was on the 40, so does this mean he burns a year of service time?

I hope they give Redmond a shot to start or trade him to a team that will. This injury might be serendipity. Might be more willing to try Vizcaino as a starter when he comes back

Vizcaino was on the 40, so does this mean he burns a year of service time?

I saw somewhere that it does. That may be the bigger problem for them; if he'd had the surgery last year (the article I read implied that he had elbow problems and chose the "rest" approach rather than surgery), he would have still been off the 40 man roster. Of course, unless he develops a third pitch, he'll be a reliever, and those are fungible anyway. So a loss of a year isn't a big deal.

If he can develop a third pitch, then he's more likely to be a stud starter, and that lost year is a much bigger deal.

Vizcaino was on the 40, so does this mean he burns a year of service time?

No. MLB service time is time on the 25-man roster, not 40-man. This might waste an option year, that's all.

I know for sure that players on the disabled list accrue service time. I assume this applies to the 60-day DL (and thus players off the 40-man roster) as well as players on the 15-day DL.

Checked the rules. If the player is on the 40-man roster and has MLB service time at all, then they must be put on the MLB DL and then will accrue service time. This does cover Vizcaino as he has service time.