SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford, who began the season on the 10-day injured list with a right shoulder injury, will begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Tacoma, the club announced on Tuesday.
Mariners manager Dan Wilson confirmed Crawford will play for the Rainiers in Tuesday’s game against the El Paso Chihuahuas, the Triple-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres.
President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto anticipates Crawford will also play for Tacoma on Wednesday, and hopes he will then be able to join the Mariners on Friday when they face the Los Angeles Angels.
Crawford, 31, was Seattle’s starting shortstop for every opening day from 2019 to 2025. He was limited to seven spring training games due to his right shoulder injury and batted .143 with no extra-base hits.
Wilson said Crawford is progressing well in his return from injury.
“He’s been really on track,” Wilson said, “and in some ways ahead of where you would think because of spring training and getting opportunities to get as many at-bats as possible and that kind of thing. So, excited that he’s getting close.”
Top shortstop prospect Colt Emerson could also be close to joining the Mariners. Emerson agreed to a $95 million, eight-year deal with the team, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The contract, which starts this season and includes a team option for 2034, would be the largest ever for a player who has not made his major league debut. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the deal hasn’t been announced.
Emerson batted .357 with one home run and a double and a 1.000 on-base percentage plus slugging in three games for Triple-A Tacoma. He appeared in 18 spring training games for the Mariners and batted .268 with two homers and eight RBIs and an .828 OPS.
Emerson is believed to be Seattle’s shortstop of the future, and will one day replace Crawford, who is the longest tenured player on the Mariners roster.
Once Crawford is healthy and Emerson makes it to the big leagues, though, Dipoto suggested that Crawford will stay at shortstop and Emerson will mostly play at third base.
“That was always our plan," Dipoto said. "It’s why you saw Colt so frequently at third base in the spring is we were preparing for that, and third base came pretty easy for him.”
All-Star infielder/outfielder Brendan Donovan and utility man Leo Rivas have started each Mariners game this season at third base and shortstop, respectively. Dipoto was not shy about saying he anticipates Emerson will join the Mariners sometime in the near future.
“I suspect he will be a big leaguer sooner than later, and will contribute heavily to this season," Dipoto said. "And, I thought that was the case before we signed him. This signing was more about the long term than it was this season.”
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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)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump had another medical exam on Tuesday, putting his health under renewed public scrutiny as he has worked to dismiss concerns over his age and stamina.
The 79-year-old president spent more than three hours at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for what the White House described as preventive medical and dental checkups. It was Trump's fourth publicly disclosed medical exam since he returned to office for a second term, and it comes as he tries to project strength ahead of midterm elections that will test his sway with voters.
In a social media post after the visit, Trump said that he had just finished his “6 month physical” and that “Everything checked out PERFECTLY.”
For decades, administrations have released selected results from presidential physicals, offering the public a glimpse at the commander-in-chief’s health. But the results are filtered through the White House and must be approved by the president, raising questions about what the public does and doesn't get to see.
Trump, a Republican, turns 80 next month and was the oldest person elected U.S. president. His immediate predecessor, President Joe Biden, a Democrat, was 82 when he left office, dropping out of the 2024 presidential race because of widespread concerns he was too old for the job.
A Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted in April found that less than half of U.S. adults think Trump has the mental sharpness or physical health to serve effectively as president.
“I think concern for the president’s physical health is probably at an all-time high, and I think advanced physical age is the No. 1 concern,” said Dr. Jeffrey Kuhlman, who served as a White House physician for more than a decade under Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
For a president of Trump’s age, a complete physical would be expected to include advanced heart testing, screening for common cancers and a cognitive assessment, along with basics like height, weight and blood pressure, Kuhlman said.
The White House has not disclosed what the visit entailed but expressed confidence in what it will show.
“President Trump is the sharpest and most accessible President in American history who is working nonstop to solve problems and deliver on his promises, and he remains in excellent health,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said in a statement.
In the weeks leading up to his visit, Trump has been saying he feels as good as he did five decades ago — even as he jokes about his fondness for fast food and his minimal exercise regimen. Yet he’s also sensitive to perceptions about his age, noting that he takes extra caution descending the steps from Air Force One to avoid headlines about a stumble.
There is no law requiring presidents to publicize their health records, and the degree of transparency has varied by administration. Trump’s past reports have been criticized for offering scant detail and providing statistics that some medical experts eyed with skepticism.
At public appearances, Trump is often seen wearing makeup to conceal bruising on his hands, which the White House attributes to handshaking and regular aspirin use. He has sometimes appeared drowsy during meetings and closed his eyes for long stretches, though he denies having fallen asleep.
Trump often boasts of having “aced” cognitive tests while frequently deriding Biden, who faced questions about his mental acuity. Biden and his aides pushed back aggressively against doubts raised about his fitness for office.
Some of Trump’s previous physicals have included the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, used to screen for dementia and cognitive impairment. His physicians reported a score of 30 out of 30 for him at 2018 and 2025 checkups.
Yet critics have pointed to Trump’s meandering speeches and sometimes bellicose rhetoric as evidence of cognitive decline.
Last month, a statement from more than 30 neurologists, psychiatrists and other medical experts — who acknowledged they’ve never examined him — said Trump was mentally unfit to serve and warned of an “increasingly dangerous decline” in his behavior based on what they called “objectively observable signs of serious medical concern.″
“Any so-called medical professionals engaging in armchair diagnosis or false speculation for political purposes are clearly breaking the Hippocratic Oath they’ve sworn to,” Ingle said.
Just like any other patient, presidents get to choose what’s disclosed about their health, said Sara Rosenthal, a bioethicist at the University of Kentucky who studies presidential health. Questions about transparency have become more acute as America elects aging presidents like Trump and Biden, she said.
“I think we can expect very little disclosure about the true health status of any president unless they’re in perfect health,” said Rosenthal, who has suggested an independent medical organization to review and report on the health of the president and those in the line of succession.
Trump's first medical report in his second term was released last April. In July, he was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a common condition in older adults that causes blood to pool in his veins. Photographs have shown the president with swollen feet, ankles and calves, described by the White House as a symptom of chronic venous insufficiency leading to “mild swelling” in his lower legs.
Following his last publicly disclosed exam, described as a routine follow-up last October, Trump’s physician issued a one-page summary saying the president was in “exceptional health” without divulging many specific results.
The frequency of Trump's medical checkups is not uncommon for someone his age, according to S. Jay Olshansky of the University of Illinois-Chicago, who has studied the health of past presidents. It's part of a strategy to catch problems while they’re still treatable, Olshansky said.
Olshansky says the public deserves to see more than White House medical summaries that “may be subject to editorial discretion.” Full, unredacted medical records should be made public, he said: “Nothing should be hidden.”
President Donald Trump departs Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Tuesday, May 26, 2026, in Bethesda, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
FILE - The left foot and swollen ankle of President Donald Trump are pictured as he sits with Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa in the Oval Office of the White House, July 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
President Donald Trump boards Air Force One, Friday, May 15, 2026, at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Donald Trump's right hand is seen as he speaks to the press after returning and stepping off Air Force One, Wednesday, May 20, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., after speaking at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy commencement. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Donald Trump walks down the stairs of Air Force One upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Friday, Nov. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)
CORRECTS DATE - President Donald Trump sits at the back of the presidential limousine as it drives outside the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center from the White House, Tuesday, May 26, 2026 in Bethesda, Md. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
