SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford started the season on the 10-day injured list while right-hander Bryce Miller opened on the 15-day IL as the team got down to the 26-man active limit Wednesday.
Crawford, 31, has been Seattle's starting shortstop for opening day each of the last seven seasons and is the franchise's longest-tenured player. He was limited to seven spring training games due to a right shoulder injury and batted .143 with no extra-base hits.
Manager Dan Wilson said Crawford got some at-bats on Wednesday during a minor league spring training game and has begun a throwing program.
“It’s progressing like it should," Wilson said. "I think we’ll be in a good spot.”
Last season, Crawford hit .265 with 12 home runs, 58 RBIs and a .722 OPS.
Leo Rivas is expected to receive most of the starts at shortstop, according to Wilson. The 28-year-old hit .244 with two home runs in 90 at-bats last season in a utility role. The Mariners sided with Rivas over top prospect Colt Emerson, who impressed during spring but was reassigned to minor league camp.
“He’s a guy that plays shortstop very well defensively, and we’ve seen him have some great at-bats, some big at-bats for us," Wilson said. "The switch-hitting is kind of a nice plus for him, too. Although we will miss JP, I think Leo will do a great job filling in until JP gets back.”
Miller, 27, dealt with a left oblique injury throughout spring training. He ended a bullpen session early two weeks ago after feeling discomfort in his left oblique.
Miller threw a handful of warmup pitches on March 11, took a break and then elected not to throw any full-effort pitches. He remains at the Mariners' spring training facility in Peoria, Arizona, and will continue to build up arm strength. Miller has thrown two bullpen sessions since the one he cut short.
“I think the next step is getting some hitters in the box and that ramps things up a little bit more," Wilson said. “Once he passes that hurdle, then I think it’s getting a chance to get in games, whether that’s down here, whether that’s up here remains to be seen.”
Miller and the Mariners avoided arbitration in January when he agreed to a one-year contract that includes a 2027 club option. The 27-year-old was 4-6 with a 5.68 ERA in 18 regular-season starts last year, when he earned $800,000. He was on the injured list with right elbow inflammation from May 14-31 and from June 10-Aug. 19. Miller was 1-1 with a 2.51 ERA in the postseason.
Miller is 24-21 with a 4.01 ERA in 74 starts over three major league seasons. Right-hander Emerson Hancock, who started a career-high 16 games last season and went 4-5 in 2025 with a 4.90 ERA, will take Miller's place in the starting rotation.
Utility infielder Miles Mastrobuoni, who injured a calf while playing for Italy in the World Baseball Classic, also began the season on the 10-day IL. Mastrobuoni hit .250 with one home run and 12 RBIs across 152 at-bats last season in a part-time role.
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FILE - Seattle Mariners pitcher Bryce Miller works against the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning in Game 5 of baseball's American League Championship Series in Seattle, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
FILE - Seattle Mariners' J.P. Crawford celebrates in the dugout after scoring off a single hit by Josh Naylor during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun, File)
HAVANA (AP) — Former Cuban President Raúl Castro is involved in talks between the island and the United States, and they're still in the early stages, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Wednesday.
The talks come at a time of increasing tensions between the two nations, with Cuba plagued by nationwide blackouts resulting from a crumbling power grid and an ongoing oil blockade implemented by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has threatened tariffs on any country that provides oil to Cuba and recently said he’d have “the honor of taking Cuba” soon.
The talks overall are being handled collectively by the Cuban government, Díaz-Canel told Spanish leftist leader Pablo Iglesias in a videotaped interview that lasted more than an hour and was shared by state media. Though Diaz-Canel became president in 2018, 94-year-old revolutionary leader, brother of Fidel Castro, is still considered the most powerful person in the nation.
Iglesias was in Cuba as part of a delegation of some 600 activists from 33 countries who arrived last week to deliver humanitarian aid.
“A process of conversations that leads to an agreement is a long process,” Díaz-Canel told Iglesias, who produced the interview for his crowdfunded TV channel, Canal RED.
“First, we must build a channel for dialogue. Then, we must build common agendas of interests for the parties, and the parties must demonstrate their intention to move forward and truly commit to the program based on the discussion of those agendas,” Díaz-Canel said.
In late January, Trump threatened tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba as he pushes for a change in the island’s political model.
Although the initial threats were formally softened, the embargo has remained in place, and the island has not received any fuel shipments in the past three months.
Prolonged power outages and a near-paralysis of economic and social life are the visible consequences on the island, which in the last week experienced two nationwide blackouts that left millions without electricity as Cuba’s power grid continues to crumble.
The U.S. has said that Cuba was in negotiations, and Trump has threatened that he would take over the island soon.
Díaz-Canel was more nuanced in his response and said his officials and those from the U.S. State Department “held recent talks.”
He also addressed speculation surrounding the role that Castro, would be playing a role in these overture.
“The other thing they’ve tried to speculate about is that there are divisions within the leadership of the revolution,” Díaz-Canel said, not clarifying who he was referring to.
Castro “is one of those who, along with me and in collaboration with other branches of the (Communist) Party, the government, and the State, has guided how we should conduct this dialogue process, if this dialogue process takes place,” the president added.
He noted that Castro is “the historical leader of this revolution, even though he has relinquished his responsibilities,” and that he maintains a “prestige earned with the people” due to “historical recognition that no one can deny.”
Raúl Castro, who succeeded his brother, Fidel, as president, led historic talks with former U.S. President Barack Obama in 2014 that led to the reopening of embassies and re-establishment of diplomatic relations.
Trump has opposed such policy, tightening sanctions even further, exacerbating a deep economic crisis to the extreme of the current energy blockade.
Meanwhile, UN officials on Wednesday called for urgent solutions to a rapidly spiraling crisis in the Caribbean nation, which is increasingly taking a human toll.
They namely highlighted the desperate need for fuel to enter Cuba, but also highlighted solar power as a potential solution to keep schools and hospitals up and running and to pump water for irrigation.
“If the current situation continues and the country’s fuel reserves are depleted, we do fear an accelerated deterioration with the possible loss of lives,” said Francisco Pichón, Resident Coordinator of the United Nations in Cuba.
Follow AP’s Latin America coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Activists wave Cuban and Palestinian flags from the vessel Maguro, arriving from Mexico with humanitarian aid as part of the "Nuestra America," or Our America Convoy, in Havana Bay, Cuba, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
