A Grip on Sports: From transfer portal news to the NFL draft and beyond, it should be a packed week
A GRIP ON SPORTS • There is one week left in the month of April. What’s ahead? How about playoff hockey, with the Kraken playing a key game tonight in Seattle. Or the M’s headed off to a long road trip, needing to, somehow, right the ship. And, as seems to be the case recently, days filled with speculation about the NFL draft and the NCAA’s transfer portal.
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• That’s a lot. We can start with the last one first, as the week ahead should see quite a few commitments in basketball and high-profile players entering football’s portal.
An example of the latter is Colorado receiver Montana Lemonious-Craig, who shined in the Buffs’ ESPN-televised spring game Saturday. Come for the Deion Sanders experience, see the next great Alabama – or Ohio State or USC or somewhere in the top 10 – receiver.
On the basketball side, Gonzaga already made its big splash, that coming on Friday as two more highly sought-after veterans – Ryan Nembhard of Creighton and Wyoming’s Graham Ike – announced their intentions of joining the Zags. As ways to assuage the faithful’s worries, Mark Few and his staff did an A-level job easing them.
• From the somewhat professional ranks – hasn’t name, image and likeness made that a reality? – to the true professionals, the NFL will do what it does better than any league in the world, dominate the offseason with an event. The biggest one looms this weekend, starting Thursday night, in fact, with the first round of the draft. Rounds two and three are Friday night and the last four come Saturday.
For once, the Seahawks should be one of the key players. Having draft picks to burn makes that possible. The key? Seattle has five of the first 83 choices, including the fifth overall. How John Schneider and Pete Carroll use them should shape the franchise for years. And we mean that in many ways.
If the choices pan out, and the draft takes its spot among the Seattle pantheon with 2012 and 2010, then the next five years or so could be momentous. But if there is a wasted pick or three, it will be seen as the biggest lost opportunity the franchise has ever had – and could be the impetus for major change.
No pressure or anything.
• Could it be as simple as Robbie Ray and Andres Munoz being hurt has stalled the Mariners for the moment? It’s possible. With all the hand-wringing over the bottom of the lineup, the M’s biggest worry seems to be how its pitching is faring. And that’s not well.
A simple solution may be to get Munoz healthy. The hard-throwing righthander with the great slider may not be the closer – Scott Servais doesn’t have a designated ninth-inning guy – but he’s a key weapon they use in the toughest late-inning matchups. That allows everyone else in the pen to slide back a step. It fits the talent pool well. But Munoz’s arm injury has upset that delicate balance.
The same can be said for Ray. Though he’s done well off and on as a starter, Chris Flexen is more valuable for this team as another bullpen arm. That’s a big reason why Marco Gonzales is in the rotation – and why Flexen was on the postseason roster. With Ray hurt, Flexen is starting. And not doing well. A healthy, and dominating Ray, helps all aspects of the pitching.
• Heading back to Denver with the best-of-seven series tied at 2-2 has to be better than making the same trip down 3-1, right? Sure. Instead of having to sweep the defending Stanley Cup champions at home over the next week to advance, all the Kraken would need to do is steal one win. And hold home ice.
That’s why tonight’s game four in Climate Pledge Arena is so crucial.
Game sevens get all the glory, and rightfully so, but there probably won’t be one of those if Seattle can’t find a way to win tonight.
Whatever sparks it, whether it’s a change at goalie or a lineup shuffle or even just a stay-the-course speech, doesn’t matter. What does is, after the horn sounds tonight, Seattle has tied up the series.
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WSU: Around the Pac-12 and the nation in football, the health of Oregon State athletic director Scott Barnes dominates the news. He seems to be getting better. … There is also this story on OSU quarterback DJ Uiagalelei to pass along. … We mentioned Lemonious-Craig above. His entering the portal seemed to be a surprise to Colorado. … The portal gives too, sending one of the nation’s best defensive linemen, Bear Alexander, from Georgia to USC. … Has Arizona done enough to shore up the defense? … In basketball news, the heat is on in Tucson as Arizona seems to be outside-looking-in at its transfer portal targets. … In baseball news, Arizona State stayed atop the conference standings by rallying past visiting Oregon State.
Gonzaga: The transfer portal news from Friday is still reverberating, as another publication weighs in on the Zags’ rebuild. … The baseball team fell to a late Portland rally and dropped out of second in the conference race. … Elsewhere in the WCC, yes, BYU is leaving the conference. But it looks as if one of their best basketball players is not headed to the Big 12 with them.
Indians: The season is 50/50 after a dozen games. Spokane split a series for the second consecutive week after losing 6-0 yesterday to Tri-City.
Kraken: Does Seattle need to “cheat a little bit more?” Maybe.
Mariners: Flexen struggled once more. But if Kolten Wong has caught a simple toss from JP Crawford, the M’s may have won yesterday despite the struggles. We will never know. We do know, however, St. Louis won 7-3 to avoid a Seattle sweep. … Jarred Kelenic has been the best hitter in the lineup thus far. … If you have questions, we can pass along some answers.
Seahawks: We linked this story on the Hawks’ best drafts when it ran in the Times. We do it again now because it’s on the S-R website. … Hey, another couple mock draft stories. We can’t wait until Sunday when we’re beyond such things.
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• We struggled this morning trying to find the perfect spot to link this Jim Price story on himself and Chuck Stewart, two long-time colleagues. Then we realized we have known the two for years – heck, there were many times we caught a fastpitch softball game with Chuck calling balls and strikes behind us – and their story fits right here, the place we share our personal moments. Until later …