{"id":625868,"date":"2026-03-16T03:33:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T03:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/625868\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T03:33:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T03:33:21","slug":"al-west-notes-pena-mastrobuoni-crawford-neto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/625868\/","title":{"rendered":"AL West Notes: Pena, Mastrobuoni, Crawford, Neto"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jeremy Pena<\/a> provided The Athletic\u2019s Chandler Rome<\/a> with an update on the fingertip fracture<\/a> that has put Pena\u2019s Opening Day availability in question.\u00a0 The Astros shortstop has been able to partake in most baseball activities, with just throwing and swinging with both hands remaining on the checklist before he can consider a return to game action.\u00a0 Pena has played in four Spring Training games and two World Baseball Classic games with the Dominican Republic, and it remains to be seen how much more prep time he\u2019ll need once he is cleared to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I get into a game and I feel like my swing is ready to go, then that\u2019s all I need,\u201d Pena said.\u00a0 \u201cFor me, it\u2019s a feel thing.\u00a0 Maybe it takes me five games, maybe it takes me three, maybe it takes me one.\u201d<\/p>\n

It would appear as though Pena should at least be able to get into some games before the Cactus League is over, even if it remains unclear whether or not he\u2019ll need (what may be a minimal) 10-day injured list stint to begin the season.\u00a0 A fuller re-evaluation of Pena\u2019s status is still a couple of days away, though Rome writes that the shortstop felt good enough to postpone a planned doctor\u2019s appointment.<\/p>\n

More from around the AL West\u2026<\/p>\n

Mariners utilityman Miles Mastrobuoni<\/a> is dealing with a minor calf strain that cut short his participation on Italy\u2019s team in the World Baseball Classic.\u00a0 Mastrobuoni is now back at the Mariners\u2019 camp, and he told the Seattle Times\u2019 Tim Booth<\/a> that while he doesn\u2019t feel his strain is too serious, he didn\u2019t want to risk further aggravating the injury: \u201cI just really don\u2019t want to deal with this, having it nag throughout the year.\u201d\u00a0 Given the timing, Mastrobuoni (who is out of minor league options) might begin the season on the 10-day injured list to allow him to both fully recover and ramp up for regular-season play.
\nStaying in Seattle, J.P. Crawford<\/a> has been bothered by a sore right shoulder for much of camp, and the shortstop hasn\u2019t played in any of the Mariners\u2018 last four games.\u00a0 Despite the absence, Crawford isn\u2019t worried about his readiness for Opening Day, telling the Seattle Times\u2019 Ryan Divish<\/a> and other reporters that the team was just being cautious.\u00a0 Since the M\u2019s have a off-day tomorrow, Crawford will get another full day of rest and rehab before making his planned return to Seattle\u2019s lineup on Tuesday.
\nThe Angels received a scare when Zach Neto<\/a> picked up a left hand injury while sliding into home plate yesterday, but the shortstop told reporters (including Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group<\/a>) that tests revealed only a small hand sprain.\u00a0 Neto believes he\u2019ll be back in action after just a few days.\u00a0 A critical piece of the Halos\u2019 lineup, Neto has hit .253\/.318\/.458 with 49 homers and 56 steals (translating to a 115 wRC+) over 1156 plate appearances in 2024-25, despite undergoing a November 2024 shoulder surgery that delayed his 2025 debut until mid-April.\u00a0 Another left hand strain ended Neto\u2019s 2025 campaign in late September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jeremy Pena provided The Athletic\u2019s Chandler Rome with an update on the fingertip fracture that has put Pena\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,1400,5828,4809,4,2052],"class_list":["post-625868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-mlb","tag-baseball","tag-j-p-crawford","tag-jeremy-pena","tag-miles-mastrobuoni","tag-mlb","tag-zach-neto"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116236753531984896","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625868\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}