So my plan was to get back to town, reacquaint myself with friends and relatives, unpack and repack my suitcase, then get on the plane tomorrow and blog about the opening homestand. Guess you probably want to hear from me before then. I’ll tell you what I know.

JJ has what is being called mild costochondritis. Basically it is inflammation where the cartilage attaches to (in JJ’s case) the tenth rib. It is on the right side and occurred when JJ threw a splitter to Michael Young in the ninth inning last night. He is on the 15-day dl.

Whenever I hear the words “ribcage injury” I get nervous. Head Trainer Rick Griffin assured us that this is much better than an intercostal or oblique strain which was good to hear. Those take longer to heal. The good news here is that once costochondritis is healed, it generally is, well healed. Willie Bloomquist suffered a similar injury a couple of years ago and missed just over a month. The good news is, when he got back he says he never felt it again.

It may not take JJ that long to get back. Willie’s injury was on the left side while JJ’s is on the right. The right side is the deceleration side and usually is quicker to heal. The M’s are not putting a timetable on JJ’s return. The plan is to let the inflammation settle down, then resume cardio and what arm and shoulder work he can do. I think we are looking at a minimum of three weeks.

In the meantime, Mac has said they will go with closer by committee, but look for a hot hand. Mark Lowe is not available tonight after pitching the last two games, and Miguel Batista has just walked out to the pen. Batista closed for Toronto three years ago, but with the back issues he has had this year, I don’t believe he can close on a consistent basis.

Roy Corcoran was brought up to take JJ’s roster spot. A bunch of people have asked me why it was Corcoran and not RA Dickey. My guess is that we are going to see a lot of movement between AAA and Seattle in the next couple of weeks and they want Dickey to stay on schedule. Arthur Rhodes is getting close having just thrown back to back. Morrow will be up as soon as he can find his control. My guess is that they will have to go with seven in the pen soon and we will see both. When they get here my vote would be to have Lowe take over the ninth. His stuff looks good, he can go back to back, and he has the head of a closer.

I’m not a fan of closer by committee. The M’s tried it when Kaz went down with a similar injury in 2003. Bob Melvin tried to go with the committee using Shigetoshi Hasegawa, Jeff Nelson and Arthur Rhodes to close games out. It didn’t go to well and Bob eventually moved Shiggy into the role just to have some stability. That situation was a bit different because Arthur and Nellie were so established in their roles and that certainly is not the case now with such a young pen. Still, bullpens seem to work better when everyone knows when they will be used.

So to review, the good news is the injury is not as bad as it could have been. The schedule is not bad in the early going and finally, the M’s have a good amount of untested, but talented arms. Hang on folks…