Medical director Edward Khalfayan in Seattle examined the pictures of J.J. Putz’s right elbow on Saturday and said Putz has a mild strain of the flexor pronator.

Trainer Rick Griffin described the injury as common among pitchers in spring training and that two or three Mariners have already had this condition and recovered from it. Putz, who is still hoping to be ready for opening day on April 2, will play catch on Tuesday.

“This is great news,” Griffin said. “Sometimes you get MRIs on guys when you don’t think there’s something real wrong and it ends up being a pretty serious thing. It’s always kind of a scary thing to do an MRI on somebody because you never know what you are going to find. This is very, very good news.”

Putz said he wasn’t worried about the results because he has felt pretty good since feeling tightness after throwing a 25-pitch bullpen session on Thursday.

“We were never too worried about it and it was more of a precautionary thing anyway,” said Putz, who was wearing a protective sleeve.

Manager Mike Hargrove just had his Saturday morning meeting with the press and he said the news on J.J. Putz's MRI is "better than we hoped."

The team is putting out an official press release in about a half hour that should contain more details. Hargrove, though, was in a good mood so you have to think the news on Putz was not bad.

"If it had been bad news we probably wouldn't have had this meeting," Hargrove cracked.

Putz did not talk about the MRI but was in the locker room getting dressed, looking like he was about to begin some type of workout.

I'll post more when we get the details.

We caught J.J. Putz heading out of the clubhouse Friday morning with a neoprene sleeve on his right elbow. His destination? The doctor's office for an MRI on that elbow, which tightened up on him about 30 minutes after he threw a 25-pitch bullpen session on Thursday.

Putz said the exam is precautionary but no three letters can worry players more than M-R-I. He said he is beginning to be concerned that he won't be ready for the start of the season. Putz has not pitched in a spring training game since March 5, his only appearance besides pitching in the Mariners' charity game against San Diego on March 1.

He said he has not experienced this type of sensation before. He said his elbow is not swollen or inflammed but just tight.

After Thursday's game – an embarrassing loss by the Mariners, who dropped one to a San Francisco Giants team featuring almost exclusively minor leaguers – manager Mike Hargrove let this drop:

Closer J.J. Putz, after throwing his scheduled 25-pitch, all-fastball bullpen, had his bothersome right elbow tighten up on him. Hargrove said more details would be available Friday morning.

Not good news for Putz or the Mariners, who need their big closer when the season begins in less than three weeks. Putz has not pitched in a spring training game since March 5 and is getting close to not being able to be ready for opening day, which is April 2.

Finally! I made it down to Arizona for the first time this spring. Got to see the Mariners-Brewers game on Tuesday and today, I'm in Surprise to watch the Royals and the Rockies.

One of my favorite things about spring training is being able to see teams, like the Brewers and Rockies, that we don't get to see often up in the Northwest.

Anyway, here are few thoughts and observations:

* Brewers Ben Sheets looks like he's put his arm woes from last year behind him. He threw five shutout and dominating innings against the Mariners on Tuesday and really mowed 'em down (allowed just two hits).

Sheets said he's trying to incoropate a changeup into his arsenal although he said he doesn't worry about it if his curve is working.

* Brewers second baseman Rickie Weeks is a Player with a capital P. Weeks was on his way to a big season last year but a wrist injury sabotaged him and cost him a good chunk of time on the DL. Weeks had two hits, including a double, and scored a run. The knock on Weeks is that his defense needs to improve; Weeks booted a routine grounder against Seattle so I guess he's still working on that.

* Royals rookie Alex Gordon looks as good as advertised. He lined a single in his first at-bat off Colorado pitcher Rodrigo Lopez and then smoked a triple down the right field line in his second.

* Speaking of sharp looking players, Royals pitcher Zach Greinke had a good outing vs. the Rockies. Greinke, who's trying to work his way back from pyschological problems, scattered four hits in four innings and gave up no runs on Wednesday. He struck out six, shattered a bat and had a few Rockies taking awkward swings.