Grip on Sports: The Seahawks did what they do on the draft’s first day, but today has to be different

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Raise your hand if you were surprised John Schneider traded the Seahawks first-round draft pick last night. Put it down, quickly. Don’t admit it. Nobody should have been surprised. Read on.

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• When Schneider made his first move with the pick last night, I laughed. After all, the last time Seattle used its first-round pick without a trade was 2011.

Schneider sees the pick itself as a commodity. Not the player the Hawks pick, but the pick itself. He loves to trade it for other commodities. More picks, more players, more chances to hit the right one.

But when he traded it again later in the evening, I was a bit surprised. Not that the Hawks dropped out of the first round – this draft is shallow in one area the Seahawks need help in, offensive line, and deep in another, cornerback – but that Schneider decided to trade with the San Francisco 49ers.

Maybe he knew San Francisco wanted to take Rueben Foster, the Alabama linebacker who dropped like a stone due to character concerns. The 49ers haven’t had a lot of luck with bad apples in the recent past.

Still, trading with a divisional foe isn’t always the best idea. Unless you are so confident in your philosophy – quantity over quality when the quality is suspect – that you feel you are fleecing said divisional foe by taking its extra picks.

And Schneider is confident. He’s been pretty successful at it. It’s fueled the Hawks run of success, after all, and he watched it work pretty darn well in Green Bay before that.

So he gets the benefit of the doubt here. Until today. The Hawks have six picks in tonight’s second and third round. They need to rebuild their depth. They need help. It’s time to make something happen.

• The Mariners played baseball yesterday the way it is supposed to be played.

Outstanding pitching, solid defense and timely hitting.

The 2-1 win over Justin Verlander and the Tigers was fun to watch. Especially the way it ended.

Seattle scored a run in the ninth on a Kyle Seager double and a Ben Gamel RBI single. Just the way everyone expected a week ago.

Then Edwin Diaz came in to get the save and was saved by a nice catch from Mr. Do-It-All, Taylor Motter.

Motter roamed into the stands – after negotiating the tarp – to catch a foul ball and end it, dealing with a surprisingly passive Tiger fan and getting a pat on the bat from a Mariner fan after the catch.

It was the joy expressed by the three Seattle fans nearby that made the catch even more special. After Motter showed the umpire the ball, the trio exploded in happiness. My guess is they had been sitting there all day surrounded by the enemy and hearing how awful their team is. You know, the typical.

And then the M’s won. And Motter had made it happen in their laps. All I can say is, sports.

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WSU: Ryan Leaf has been all over Twitter this week plugging his autobiographical Players’ Tribune piece. Jacob Thorpe has a story. … The baseball team lost its series opener with Utah in extra innings. … No, the Cougars didn’t have anyone drafted yesterday. But there were a few Pac-12 guys picked, including two from Stanford and one each from Utah, USC, UCLA and Washington. John Ross was the Husky who was selected and, after all the talk he would fall in the draft, he was picked in the top-10. The Pac-12 was sort of a loser in the draft though, compared to the SEC. … In other Pac-12 news, Oregon is preparing for its spring game and hopes to highlight an improved defense. … Colorado has a quarterback who hopes to be picked. … Arizona doesn’t have anyone worth drafting in the first round and that’s not good. … USC’s Bennie Boatwright is coming back and that makes the Trojans instant basketball contenders.

Gonzaga: The reloading began in earnest yesterday. French guard Joel Ayayi signed with the Zags, giving them a future point with a huge upside. The 6-foot-5 Ayayi weighs all of 165 pounds, so he may have be a year away from being a huge contributor. Jim Meehan has the story. … Jim also has a short piece on Elijah Brown visiting Gonzaga this week. It is reportedly the senior transfer’s last college visit, so an announcement is expected soon. … John Blanchette delves into baseball with this column on pitcher Eli Morgan (pictured).

EWU: The Eagles hold their Red-White Spring Game on Saturday. Jim Allen will be there. He has an advance today.

Preps: University High is undefeated in GSL softball play, but some of the Titans’ toughest games are ahead. Whitney Ogden has the story.

Seahawks: Honestly, nothing the Hawks do in the draft would surprise me anymore. Except maybe taking a quarterback with their first pick. Or trading up.

Mariners: There is no Mariners Log today, so we have the links on the 2-1 victory here. … The bullpen has been nearly perfect the last couple days. … Leonys Martin cleared waivers and was sent to Tacoma, where he hopes to regain his stroke. … Guillermo Heredia has been playing often lately. And he’s been playing well. … The back-to-back losses aren’t sitting well in Detroit, where the closer is being questioned.

Sounders: Seattle’s attack is pretty darn relentless these days, which is an outgrowth of their confidence and skill.

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• A quick note. We won’t be here on Sunday morning. Sorry. So all those Seahawk seventh-round choices will have to be unremarked upon. We will be back Monday. Until then …