SeaTown Sports Mailbag - Wondering about Luis Robert as a Mariner, the Seahawks' QB situation, and Stewie's Departure

Fielding questions from our readers and artificial intelligence

Photo credit: Flickr

Welcome to the SeaTown Sports mailbag! We received great questions this week, and we're diving into everything from a potential Luis Robert trade to the Mariners to the future of Seattle's new head coaches.

Thanks to all who submitted questions. Have a question for our next mailbag? Drop us a comment on here or another post, or send us a tweet on X @kcposports.

Questions have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

As women's pro leagues ascend, why are teams letting top-tier players walk as free agents? One example I don't understand is Stewie.  How did the Storm NOT get draft picks or player capital from the New York Liberty?  Presumably, Stewie was honest about her desire to play in New York.  Why did the Storm not package her in a trade with a year left on her deal? Other examples are Emily Sonnett and Rose Lavelle (to a lesser extent) for the Reign. Are NWSL and WNBA GMs just nice?  Naive? Lacking shrewdness?  — Justin Fenton

Elsner: I don’t think the Storm are any different from the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2018, the Golden State Warriors in 2019 or the Orlando Magic in 1996. The Storm thought they could win a WNBA championship with a core of Sue Bird, Jewell Loyd and Breanna Stewart so they didn’t want to lose that for the chance of trading Stewie away. It is the same as LeBron with the Cavs, Durant in the Bay Area and Shaq in Orlando - they all wanted to win. And all three left in free agency.

In hindsight, it is easy to question the Storm for not trading Stewie. But they went for the championship and probably believed they could also re-sign her. So you keep the best player in the league and roll the dice.

In terms of the Reign, I think that is another deal altogether. The NWSL seems to cater to stars and where they want to play as much as any league. And somehow the sale of the Reign seems mixed up in this awful offseason as well. Let’s just hope they actually bring in some talent for next year.

Is Luis Robert worth the prospect price and risk for the Mariners? And can/should Seattle add Andrew Vaughn to the package? — Anthony Coluccio

Cacabelos: Yes. Yes. Yes. The goal is to win the World Series. To get to the World Series, you need to make the playoffs. You must secure the AL West division or lock up a Wild Card spot to make the playoffs. To do either of those things, you cannot choke away your playoff spot in September like last season.

Robert provides the best long-term value for the Mariners out of the players likely to be on the trading block. Unlike Pete Alonso and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the Mariners would have Robert under contract until 2027. That’s a huge plus, and well worth the prospect haul the M’s would have to give up. What exactly is that price? It starts with two of the Mariners’ top five prospects and an outfielder not named Julio Rodriguez.

As to whether Vaughn should be added to the package? No. No. No. He is worse than Ty France. The Mariners do not need that.

How do you see the Seahawks’ quarterback situation evolving over the next few years? -ChatGPT

Elsner: I think the answer is Sam Howell. Geno Smith might be pretty good in this new Ryan Grubb-led offense but let’s not kid ourselves, he isn’t a long-term solution. He will be 34 years old this year and has one good season to his name. While Sam Howell has a tendency to hold on to the ball too long, take too many sacks and has never thrown for more touchdowns than interceptions (21 and 21 last year), he is only 23 years old. He is younger than Michael Penix and about the same age as Jayden Daniels (Howell has him by three months). Plus, he already has experienced the league for two years.

The fact is that the Seahawks are going to win between 8 and 12 games this year, depending on Mike Macdonald’s defense and Grubb’s innovation on offense. They are too talented to tank and not good enough to win the Super Bowl. This means the Hawks draft pick won’t be good enough to get a QB so the best bet is to roll with a young QB in Sam Howell.

Which new Seattle head coach will have the best first season? And which one will have the worst? — Anonymous

Cacabelos: The new head coaches are Mike Macdonald (Seahawks), Jedd Fisch (Husky Football), Danny Sprinkle (Husky Basketball), Dan Bylsma (Kraken). Sprinkle will be the most successful out of this group. The Big Ten will pose a challenge for the Huskies, but Sprinkle has put together one of the most impressive transfer classes in the country, headlined by Great Osobor who averaged 17.7 ppg, 9.0rpg, and 2.8rpg, while leading Sprinkle’s Utah State Aggies to the NCAA tournament. I’m optimistic that the Huskies will be back in the NCAA tournament come next March because of Osobor.

As for the least successful, by process of elimination, I’m going with Bylsma. Macdonald won’t be horrible, his best attribute is his defensive scheme, and the Seahawks have offensive pieces to make some noise in a Ryan Grubb offense. See Elsner’s answer above. Fisch’s floor is probably an insignificant bowl. The Big Ten will be tough and the Huskies field a brand-new and inexperienced offense, but this team is good enough to win a game they aren’t supposed to win, and that’s a guarantee of success coming off of a National Championship hangover.

Bylsma will take over a Kraken squad that underperformed last season. It is unclear how the roster will end up with free agency and the draft after the Stanley Cup. These unknowns combined with Bylsma being a new coach, suggest that he may have the worst first season of the group.

What are your thoughts on Caitlin Clark’s welcome treatment into the WNBA? — Caroline Cacabelos

K. Cacabelos: Where do we start? Here’s the thing. Our obsession with Clark provides fuel to the sports media complex to blow everything up and to put everything that Clark does under a microscope. Within this past week, we could have debated whether she should have made the U.S. Olympic Team, whether she flops, and whether teams are going out of their way to make her life miserable. Here’s the thing. She could be having a typical rookie campaign. Some ups and some downs. It’s hard for me to conclude that she’s being treated any differently than other star rookies from the past. It just seems that she’s being treated differently because people on social media and TV say so. To answer your question, I think she’s been treated just fine. People are in love with Clark and she has elevated the sport of women’s basketball to new heights.

Elsner, what is your No. 1 tip for parenting a child, year one? — Kevin Cacabelos

Elsner: My number one tip is to enjoy as much of these moments as you can. As a father of a 14-year-old and a 10-year-old, what I have realized lately is that you never get to go back. It sounds simple and obvious, but it is painfully true. I can never experience having a one-year-old again. I never get to go back to the fun of first steps, first words, first foods, and a lack of mobility. And it makes me sad.

But mostly, enjoy the period of immobility. Once that baby starts moving, your whole life changes.