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J.P. Crawford is our shortstop… again… for now.

The Mariners activated Crawford from the injured list on Thursday. He will join the team in Anaheim as they begin their first road tip of 2026. Crawford missed the first week of the season with right shoulder inflammation, which bugged him throughout Spring Training.

It’s a precarious time for Crawford. The Mariners on Tuesday announced a record-breaking extension for shortstop prospect Colt Emerson. Jerry Dipoto said the team is in “no rush” to debut Emerson in the majors, but as Kate Preusser points out, his talent may be forcing the team’s hand. Emerson is clearly the Mariners’ long-term plan at shortstop, leaving Crawford somewhat in the way.

Crawford, 31, is the longest-tenured Mariner, having arrived in 2019. He’s had an eventful career, first appearing as an all-glove-no-bat shortstop before a swing change in 2023 made him one of the best players in the league. He battled injuries and poor luck in 2024 but turned it around in 2025, although inconsistency at the plate limited his season overall. Crawford in 2025 posted four months with a 115 wRC+ or better, and he posted two months with a wRC+ less than 100. This all worked out to a 113 wRC+, which ranked 10th among qualified shortstops.

The Mariners might be willing to accept that up-and-down performance, but Crawford struggles in every other aspect of the game. His -9 Fielding Run Value last year ranked second worst among shortstops, as part of a years-long slide in the field. He doesn’t have good range anymore, and he doesn’t have the arm strength to make up for it. He also struggles on the bases, as one of the slowest shortstops in the league. When he hits, as he did for two-thirds of 2025, he’s a more than solid option at a premium position. When he slumps, he’s a replacement level player.

And the Mariners now have their replacement. Exactly when and why they’ll make the call on Emerson is unclear, and it’s possible they slot him into the lineup at another position with Crawford still at short. It’s also possible Emerson struggles upon his debut, and I doubt the team would forgo contingency before giving him the full-time job. But the Mariners are in win-now mode, and they aren’t likely to give Crawford 600 plate appearances for the sake of loyalty if he’s struggling. For the first time as a Mariner, Crawford is no longer the future at shortstop, and he’ll have to earn his playing time to stick around.

While he may no longer be the future of the Mariners, it’s worth noting he is still very much the past. Crawford needs just 16 more games to pass Jose Lopez for 10th most games played by a batter in team history. With 610 plate appearances, he’ll pass Raul Ibanez for ninth. With 2.8 WAR, he’ll pass Bret Boone and Mike Cameron for 11th, and with 3.6 WAR he’ll pass Robinson Canó for 10th. Crawford is surely one of the best players in the history of the franchise, and it would nice to see him, at the very least, hang on to be commemorated at the Mariners 50th Season Spectacular in August.

The Mariners in a corresponding move Thursday optioned infielder Ryan Bliss to Tacoma. Bliss got two plate appearances as a pinch hitter on Saturday and struck out in both of them. He spent most of last year on the injured list after tearing his biceps while swinging. Bliss remains interesting org depth and has demonstrated the ability to draw walks and put the ball in play in the minors. He will likely find his way back to the majors at some point this season, although there’s no clear path to playing time around the infield at the moment. He has four in-season options remaining, according to Darren Gossler’s payroll tracker.

Leo Rivas remains on the team as the backup infielder. Rivas has a tremendous eye, or at least a historically low swing rate, allowing him to draw walks and get on base. He’s a passable bench bat, and as a switch hitter, the only Mariners’ infielder capable of standing in the righty batter’s box. This handedness dilemma is another branch in the team’s shortstop log jam, potentially delaying Emerson’s debut and threatening Crawford’s use as a role player.

The Mariners also placed reliever Ryan Loutos on unconditional release waivers. Loutos was designated for assignment Monday, removing him from the Mariners’ 40-man roster. Every team will get a chance to claim Loutos. If he goes unclaimed, he will become a free agent.

Masyn Winn is “feeling great” after he was involved in a car accident hours after he notched a walk-off hit against the Mets on Wednesday — but the same cannot be said for his vehicle.

The Cardinals shortstop shared a photo of the wreck on his Instagram story Thursday, showing the mangled front bumper on his black sedan as first responders worked on the scene.

“For everyone wondering… I’m feeling great!” Wynn’s caption read. “Car is a little banged up but nothing that can’t be replaced! Big thanks to our security team and first responders for taking care of me! See yall on the field soon!”

Winn, 24, was driving alone on Interstate 64 near St. Louis before the single-car crash, which was caused by wet pavement, according to a statement from the Cardinals.

The Gold Glove winner was taken to a hospital for an evaluation after the crash, but did not sustain any serious injuries and was released shortly thereafter.

“We are grateful that he is OK, and thank the first responders in our community who helped Masyn tonight,” the Cardinals said in a statement.

Hours earlier, Winn led the Cardinals to a 2-1 win over the Mets in the 11th inning.

Facing Mets reliever Tobias Myers, Winn blooped a hit to right that fell in front of a diving Carson Benge, giving St. Louis its fourth win of the season.

Former Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer will pitch for a U.S. team for the first time since 2021 when he serves as the opening day starter for the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League later this month.

Since his last MLB start, on June 28, 2021, Bauer has been accused of sexual assault by four women. He denies all the allegations and has never been charged with a crime.

After Bauer served a 194-game suspension for violating the league's sexual assault and domestic violence policy, the Dodgers severed ties with the 2020 National League Cy Young Award winner on Jan. 6, 2023, less than two years after signing him to a three-year, $102-million contract.

Read more:Shaikin: The signs say Uniqlo Field. You will continue to say Dodger Stadium

Bauer has said he wants to pitch for an MLB team again but until now has only received opportunities to play professionally in Mexico and Japan.

"We are excited to welcome Trevor to Long Island,” Michael Pfaff, Ducks president and chief business officer, said in a Thursday news release announcing Bauer's signing. “His talent and knowledge will be important additions to our ballclub, and we are happy to offer him this opportunity to showcase his talents to MLB clubs while giving fans unprecedented access to Ducks baseball.”

According to the release, "Bauer will be 'Mic’d Up' for all games and practices for the purposes of content creation to be featured on his and the team’s social media and streaming outlets."

Read more:Trevor Bauer wants back in majors: 'I don’t believe that I was given a lifetime ban'

The Ducks did not immediately respond to further questions from The Times regarding Bauer's signing.

Bauer is expected to start when the team opens the season at home April 21 against the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars.

“I’m looking forward to competing in front of U.S. fans again this season,” Bauer said in a statement released by his new team. “The Ducks have had some incredible players come through their organization, and I’m excited to be part of that tradition.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

After Wednesday’s loss to the San Diego Padres, it seemed all but certain that the San Francisco Giants would place right-handed reliever José Buttó on the Injured List at some point today. And indeed, on Thursday afternoon, a few hours before starting a series against the New York Mets, the Giants announced that Buttó was headed to the 15-Day IL with right arm fatigue. Replacing him on the roster is fellow right-handed pitcher Blade Tidwell, who has been called up from AAA Sacramento.

The news felt inevitable for Buttó, and now we just cross our fingers and hope it’s nothing serious. He entered in the eighth inning of Wednesday’s matinee, in what was at the time a 3-1 deficit, with the team trying to stay close ahead of the ninth inning. But something was off from the get-go, as Buttó retired just one of the eight batters he faced, while issuing four walks, and allowing a single, a double, and a home run. Just eight of his 28 pitches found the strike zone and, in a large warning sign, his velocity was significantly down.

As his appearance came to an end, he appeared in discomfort, and had a long talk on the mound with head athletic trainer Anthony Reyes, before leaving the game. It’s very rare that you see a pitcher leave a game with a trainer and not end up on the Injured List, and unfortunately Buttó is no exception.

So up comes Tidwell, with a chance to make his Giants debut against the team that drafted him. The 24-year old, who was a second-round pick by the Mets in 2022, came over to the Giants along with Buttó and Drew Gilbert in last summer’s Tyler Rogers trade. He was sensational in four games with Sacramento, and was primed to make his Giants debut late in the season (his MLB debut came earlier in the year for the Mets), but a mild injury kept him from making it to San Francisco.

While still being developed in the Minors as a starter, Tidwell showed off some serious heat while primarily working out of the bullpen in Spring Training, and struck out 13 batters in just 6.2 innings (though he also walked six and allowed seven earned runs). He made one AAA appearance this year before the call-up, pitching 2.2 no-hit innings, in which he walked one and struck out three. Giants manager Tony Vitello has a lot of familiarity with Tidwell, as he coached him in college at Tennessee.

I had assumed that the Giants would replace Buttó with Spencer Bivens, a somewhat similar pitcher. Perhaps they’re just higher on Tidwell right now, or perhaps they wanted someone who could eat larger chunks of innings, especially since they’re still in the first half of a stretch of 10 games in 10 days.

On Thursday afternoon, the Colorado Rockies announced that left-handed pitcher José Quintana has been placed on the 15-day injured list with a right hamstring strain, retroactive to March 30th.

Quintana, 37, was scheduled to make his second start of the season during the Rockies’ first homestand against the Philadelphia Phillies this Saturday. The journeyman veteran had previously started against the Miami Marlins over Opening Weekend, where he gave up two earned runs on four walks and four hits over 4.1 innings. He struck out two batters.

In a corresponding roster move, the Rockies have recalled right-handed pitcher Valente Bellozo from the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes.

Bellozo, 26, signed a minor league deal with the Rockies this off-season after previously working with Rockies pitching coach Alon Leichman in Miami. While he started the season in Triple-A, he was added to the 40-man roster on March 26th. He is capable of working both in the rotation and out of the bullpen, and made a start for the Isotopes last week in their season-opening series against the Oklahoma City Comets.

The Rockies have additionally optioned utility-man Ryan Ritter to Triple-A Albuquerque. Ritter started his season 1-for-7 with three strikeouts in a variety of different roles—from starter to pinch runner—and has appeared in all six of the Rockies’ games thus far.

Optioning Ritter likely clears the way for the Rockies to activate outfielder and designated hitter Mickey Moniak from the 10-day injured list on Friday. Moniak started the season on the injured list with a finger sprain after an awkward slide during his final spring training appearance.

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Let’s play four in Phoenix.

For the third straight game, Walt Weiss has penciled in the same lineup. (And for the second straight series, the Braves social team has used “New series on deck” as the accompanying copy…)

I’m mostly interested who, if anyone, plans to step up offensively. Reigning ROY or not, Baldwin can’t do it all on his own. Looking at the birthday boy Austin Riley, in particular. I’ve heard a trip around the bases is a nice way to turn 29.

Being home has been good to the Diamondbacks, who will send Ryne Nelson to the mound tonight. They responded to being swept by the Dodgers with their own sweep of the Tigers. In that series, they had a Michael Soroka immaculate inning (see you Saturday, old friend), Zac Gallen outdueling Tarik Skubal, and rookie Jose Fernandez homering twice in his debut. Fernandez won’t be at first base tonight, though – that will be Carlos Santana, who was signed to a 1-year deal in February.

Here’s the rest of the lineup for AZ:

Yes, you’re seeing that right. Nolan Arenado is a Diamondback now and is batting sixth.

As we noted in the preview, our lefties Matt Olson and Michael Harris II homered off Ryne Nelson when he last faced the Braves in July 2024. Fingers crossed some of the Arizona heat will help the Braves’ hard-hit outs leave the yard.

After tossing four scoreless innings in his first start of the season for Triple-A Syracuse, Mets prospect Jonah Tong had a rough second outing on Thursday against the Detroit Tigers' affiliate, the Toledo Mud Hens.

The right-hander got into some early trouble as MLB.com's No. 8 overall prospect Max Clark doubled and the next two batters walked to load the bases. After getting a strikeout for the second out, Tong gave up a three-run double to MLB vet Corey Julks.

Things didn't get better in the second inning. Following a fielding error by 3B Jackson Cluff, Tong let up a two-run HR to Wenceel Pérez to make it a 5-0 game. Clark reached safely on an error by Ronny Mauricio, and then, after a force-out, Tong walked Jace Jung and allowed a two-run double to Eduardo Valencia as Syracuse went down 7-0.

Tong's day came to an end after just 1.2 IP as he allowed four earned runs on four hits with three walks and two strikeouts. The 22-year-old threw 60 pitches (34 strikes) in the brief outing.

His season ERA now sits at 6.35 through 5.2 total innings on the mound.

The Twins got on the board early in this game, but not with the need of bats. In the 2nd inning, after Victor Caratini singled, Kody Clemens singled and moved to 2nd after Caratini tried going 1st to 3rd and was thrown out. Clemens would later score on a throwing error by Salvador Perez in an attempted pickoff.

Other than that, offense was hard to come by for the Twins against Royals lefty Cole Ragans. He had little trouble, scattering 4 hits and a walk over 6 innings.

Meanwhile, Taj Bradley had a good start. In the 3rd inning, he got Bobby Witt Jr. to strike out looking with 2 men on to end the inning. In the 4th, he got Lane Thomas to strike out swinging with the bases loaded to end that threat. He ended the day with a solid 6 shutout inning performance.

After Kody Funderburk pitched a clean 7th, the Twins added a 2nd run in the 8th inning. Josh Bell walked, then Royce Lewis doubled, and Trevor Larnach was intentionally walked. Byron Buxton drove in Bell with a sac-fly RBI for a needed insurance run.

Cole Sands entered for the 8th, and immediately was greeted by back-to-back singles setting up 1st and 3rd. Vinnie Pasquantino hit a sac-fly RBI of his own for the Royals first (and only) run of the day. Taylor Rogers came in and cleaned up the inning, preserving the 2-1 Twins lead.

In the 9th, Matt Wallner hit an opposite field solo homer, his 2nd of the season. Then, two batters later, Clemens hit a homer of his own to left, his first of the season. Josh Bell followed with yet another solo homer to make it a 5-1 game, that’s his 2nd of the year.

Justin Topa entered in the 9th, and, with the help of a ground ball double play, tossed a scoreless inning to secure the Twins second victory of the year.

Studs:

Taj Bradley: 6.0 IP, 5 H, B, 3 K

Luke Keaschall: 2-4

Wallner, Clemens, Bell: They hit homers, we like those.

Duds:

NO DUDS TWINS WIN!!