Putz's elbow won't finish closer's season
At least one of the two big questions surrounding closer J.J. Putz finally got answered.
Putz does not have a season-threatening injury, only a "mild strain" of the pronator muscle in his right elbow. The team plans to have Putz play catch by Tuesday. If all goes well, the Mariners will put him through a series of workouts designed to test the arm's ability to hold up on the mound.
But that still leaves unanswered the question about whether Putz will be Seattle's closer when the season opens.
"First of all, I'm not the pitching coach or the manager, so I'm not going to say that," Mariners trainer Rick Griffin said Saturday after a magnetic-resonance-imaging (MRI) scan of Putz's elbow had been reviewed by the team's medical director. "We're still optimistic. I know J.J.'s optimistic. As long as we progress without any setbacks, or any bumps in the road, there's always a chance."
Short story: They aren't going to rush him back into action just for the sake of having him close out a win against the A's on Opening Day.
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