Mariners closer J.J. Putz placed on disabled list

The Mariners were hit with their first major obstacle of the new season Wednesday when All-Star closer J.J. Putz was put on the 15-day disabled list with a rib injury.

Mariners manager John McLaren said that no replacement closer would be designated. Rather, the team will go with a "closer by committee" system until Putz's return.

"We just have to pull together, get the committee signed up," McLaren said. "We're going to go out there and do it as bullpen — mix and match."

The primary ninth-inning men figure to be Eric O'Flaherty, Mark Lowe and Sean Green. McLaren said if one of those pitchers showed he could handle the closing job, he would be inclined to stick with him.

"We'll go that route for sure," he said. "We'll see if someone gets hot, and we'll run with it. We'll try everything. Opportunity has been big for people over the years. Some people are going to have an opportunity."

Mariners trainer Rick Griffin said there was no timetable for Putz's return, but the diagnosis — mild costochondritis on his right side — was characterized as encouraging.

Costochondritis is inflammation where cartilage attaches to a rib — in Putz's case, his 10th rib. The inflammation was described as mild by the doctor who read Putz's MRI on Wednesday.

"We're very happy it's not an oblique or soft tissue injury, because those take a long time," Griffin said. "The fact he categorized this as a mild injury is the best news we could probably have got."

As for how long Putz would be out, Griffin said, "We don't guess. J.J. is going to rest for a little while. We're going to quiet it down, and then he'll start doing exercises and progress to throwing, and we'll make sure he's ready to go. But we're not going to say it's going to be a certain number of days."

Putz said he felt a sharp pain on his third pitch to Michael Young in the ninth inning against Texas on Tuesday night.

"It felt like an ice pick stabbing my side," he said.

Despite the pain, Putz said he thought he could finish the inning. He went on to strike out Young but allowed a two-run home run to the next hitter, Josh Hamilton. That ensured his first blown save since Aug. 1 of last season.

Putz told Griffin of his discomfort after the game, and the decision was made to schedule an MRI on Wednesday.

"When I heard what it was, it was encouraging," Putz said of the diagnosis. "How do I say this? It was the best of the bad news. I knew pretty much last night I was going to miss some time because of how sore it was. It was just important to figure out what it was so we could treat it."

Griffin said Willie Bloomquist and Dan Wilson had similar injuries in recent years, as well as former Mariners closer Kazuhiro Sasaki. The latter told team officials he fell down stairs while carrying luggage in his apartment.

"This had nothing to do with luggage," Griffin said wryly.

The Mariners called up right-hander Roy Corcoran from Class AAA Tacoma to take Putz's roster spot. Corcoran, 27, has brief major-league experience with Montreal/Washington.

In 16 games in 2003, '04 and '06, he had a 5.89 earned-run average. Corcoran's older brother, Tim, pitched the past three seasons with Tampa Bay and is now in the Florida Marlins' organization.