TERRY MOSHER
JAMES PAXTON
TOP OF THE TOWN – Two things are on my mind right now and they concern a player returning and a player who sources say is in turmoil because he wants more protection and that has led radio and TV sports shock jocks and national sportswriters to jump into the fray and believe this player wants out of Seattle. One thing that we all must know is that life and time don’t stand still. Life moves on and so does the tick tock of the clock. The first of these mind-searching thoughts of mine concern James Paxton, the Big Maple. The Marines have signed Paxton to a one-year deal, returning him to the team that originally drafted him (4th round, 2010) and reached the Major Leagues in 2013 with the Mariners, who then sent him in November of 2018 to the New York Yankees where he pitched in 2019-2020. The 6-foot-4 Paxton besides having pitched the first no-hitter on the road for the Mariners (May 8, 2018) in Toronto against the Blue Jays, which is kind of amusing because Paxton is from Canada, is that he’s a guy no insurance company should love to insure because he’s injury prone. Baseball should name the disabled list after Paxton because he is on it so much. This is typical of the Mariners under general manager Jerry Dipoto, who has a habit of bringing in players who are recovering from major injuries, are journeymen with lackluster statistics or just folks who are victims of a numbers game and haven’t had a good chance to show what they can (or cannot) do. As a result the Mariners’ roster typically resembles a spinning door and if you miss a couple weeks of their season while you are on vacation when you return you scratch your head when you look at the roster and wonder where did these guys come from? If you have an imagination you can see Dipoto reaching into the bottom of a barrel searching for a delicious apple that might be down there somewhere. To be fair, Paxton when he is good, he’s really good. You just have to expect that in the middle of a good performance he will walk off the mound with a blister on a finger of his pitching hand or he will have pulled a muscle, or something. If he can stay healthy the 32-year-old Paxton will have justified Dipoto reaching into the bottom of the barrel. But that’s a big IF. The second concern swirls about Russell Wilson, a quarterback one expert communitarian on the radio believes is among the top three signal-callers in the NFL. I would beg to differ. Wilson is good and I would put him among the top seven, but not the top three. But that argument is for a different time and place. Here we are talking about the recent comments Wilson made, complaining he gets hit and sacked too often. Some of that he freely admits is on him for holding on to the football too long as he searches for a way to make a play. These comments are not like Wilson, who is the professor of optimism, the king of sweetness. This would have been like if Hitler had suddenly decided the Jews were good people and needed to be spared. His comments excited a bunch of writers and shock jocks and blazed across the Internet and social network. It also reportedly rattled the Seahawks’ kingdom and led too many jumping to the conclusion that Wilson was seeking to be traded. Hey, hey, slow down. Wilson is not about to go anywhere, although nobody is exempt from being sent packing in pro football. Salary cap limits force teams to trade, waive and release very good players. Unhappiness also is a reason good players suddenly are gone (J.J. Watt, for example, has asked the Texans to trade him to a contender and they are likely to do so). Let’s make this clear, even Wilson could go some day. Nothing says he has to be happy with the Seahawks. Nothing says the Seahawks could suddenly decide they are unhappy too. Remember, Boston traded Babe Ruth for a song and dance. Nobody stays around forever. I would expect in Wilson’s case, though, that he has lost a little luster with his offensive linemen. There may come a time in a game that is already decided that one of those linemen may suddenly forget how to block and lo and behold Wilson gets creamed. … Don’t look now but the Washington Huskies softball team is already 5-0 on the young season. That is no surprise, though. The Huskies are considered either the top team in the nation or the second best team behind UCLA. The Huskies have beaten Southern Utah 8-0 and 19-13, Dixie State 6-5 and 7-0 and UNLV 8-2. Junior infielder Baylee Kingler has four home runs and 7 RBI and junior outfielder Sami Reynolds has three dingers and 9 RBI. Junior infielder SilentRain Espinoza is “only” hitting .615. Senior Gabbie Plain has struck out 22 in 15.2 innings and sophomore Kelley Lynch 16 in nine innings. The Huskies play BYU at St. George, Utah on Thursday and then compete in the Dixie State Classic the next four days in St. George. Ok, that is enough for today. Stay safe.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.