Just got off the phone with Mariners closer David Aardsma down in Arizona, who confirmed that he'll be having surgery on the labrum in his left hip this coming Monday.

Aardsma said the hip has been bothering him since the season ended. Towards the end of the year, he was shut down with what the Mariners felt was an oblique muscle injury. But as the off-season progressed and Aardsma still felt pain when he tried to throw, he got it checked out on his own.

"When I started doing my throwing program, it became clear to me that it wasn't an oblique,'' he said. "If it was an oblique, it would have gone away on its own.''

Instead, the possible labrum problem was detected a few weeks ago.

"We got it checked out and came up with something more serious,'' he said.

Aardsma said he immediately informed the team and the Mariners had their own people look at it. Two days ago, Aardsma saw specialist Dr. Marc Phillipon in Vail, Colo., who diagnosed that the labrum was what was causing the pain and recommended surgery. The surgery is scheduled for Monday in Vail. Phillipon is the same specialist who handled surgery on Alex Rodriguez two years ago.

"What they told me is that after four weeks I should be able to start throwing and do my full rehabiliation regimen,'' Aardsma said. "And then, on Day 1 that the season starts, I should be fully ready to go.''

That latter part will depend on how quickly Aardsma responds to the rehab work. He isn't certain he'll be ready to go as normal once spring training opens in February.

"I know I'll be throwing by then, which is a good thing,'' he said. "It's not like I'm a starter and I need the whole spring to build up innings. We have some time here, so that even if there is a setback or something, I could still make it to Opening Day on time.''

Obviously, this impacts the team's efforts to trade Aardsma. The team is feeling a bit of a cash squeeze these days and dealing Aardsma -- who could earn roughly $4.5 million in arbitration -- might have freed up some added money while bringing back a player or two in return.

Aardsma made it clear that no one was really certain what the exact problem was until two days ago. Prior to that, we continued to hear rumors that the team was listening to offers for Aardsma's services.

Now, of course, you'd expect those discussions to halt immediately until everyone can figure out exactly how healthy Aardsma is and when he'll be ready to go.