Seattle Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby won’t be ready for the start of the season, but he did take a positive step on Friday.

According to Shannon Drayer of Seattle Sports 710, Kirby played catch with an M’s trainer. He’s been shut down since March 7 with right shoulder inflammation.

While playing catch with a trainer may not seen like a big step, this is significant considering Kirby had yet to throw since being shut down. Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times said he threw from 60 feet and will throw again on Saturday.

The Mariners will be utilizing Emerson Hancock in Kirby’s place, and he’s slated to start the fifth game of the season, which will be March 31 against the Detroit Tigers. Kirby has said he hopes to only miss a few starts in April.

An All-Star in 2023, Kirby is 35-26 lifetime with a 3.43 ERA. He went 14-11 a season ago, but features some of the best stuff in baseball. With an upper-90s fastball, a splitter, and a slider, Kirby also has the best control of any starter in the sport.

He’s a former first-round pick (2019) of the Mariners out of Elon.

The Mariners are coming off a season in which they finished 85-77 and missed the playoffs by one game. However, under new manager Dan Wilson there is some more optimism heading into 2025.

In addition to having Wilson for a full year at the helm, the Mariners also went out and added infielder Donovan Solano this offseason. They also re-signed infielder Jorge Polanco to a one-year deal, and he will play third base.

The M’s will open the season on Thursday, March 27 with a four-game series against the Athletics at T-Mobile Park. We know that Logan Gilbert will pitch Game 1, with Luis Castillo, Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo to follow.

NEW PODCAST IS OUT! Brady is back for another episode of “Refuse to Lose,” where he reacts to the Buster Olney interview from Thursday. Why are some people so down on Rowdy Tellez being a member of the M’s, and can the Nintendo partnership help the Mariners get back into the Japanese market? CLICK HERE:

MITCH LIKELY TO IL? As he deals with a shoulder injury, Mitch Haniger is a “strong possibility” to start the year on the injured list. CLICK HERE:

KIRBY REPLACEMENT: The Mariners have named George Kirby’s replacement in the starting rotation at the outset of the year. CLICK HERE:

Continue to follow our Inside the Mariners coverage on social media by liking us on Facebook and by following Teren Kowatsch and Brady Farkas on “X” @Teren_Kowatsch and @RefuseToLosePod. You can subscribe to the “Refuse to Lose” podcast by clicking HERE.

The Seattle Seahawks have been one of the most active teams in free agency this year.

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But much to frustration of Seahawks fans, those moves haven’t done much to address the team’s glaring needs along the interior offensive line.

Seattle’s lone O-line signing has been former Baltimore Ravens backup tackle/guard Josh Jones, who projects more as a depth piece than a potential full-time starter.

And in the meantime, the interior O-line market has thinned dramatically since the free agent negotiating period began on March 10. According to NFL.com, each of the top eight free agent interior offensive linemen have signed elsewhere.

During his weekly appearance Thursday on Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob, Seahawks general manager John Schneider was asked a handful of questions about the O-line. Here are a few highlights from what he said.

A patient approach

Schneider said the Seahawks are continuing to bring in offensive linemen for free-agent visits.

Earlier this week, guards Teven Jenkins, Dillon Radunz and Lucas Patrick each reportedly met with Seattle. Jenkins has since signed with the Cleveland Browns.

“We had probably five guys in (for visits) this week,” Schneider said. “We’ll have another guy in this weekend. (We’ll) have the (doctors) spend time with them, keep negotiating with the agent and have the coaches spending a bunch of time with them and seeing if it’s a true fit.”

However, Schneider said it’s difficult to find surefire O-line starters at this stage of the free agency cycle.

“You can’t just throw money at marginal play,” Schneider said. “We want to be a championship team. We don’t want to be an average team. And so we can sign guys that can fill a specific role, but it’s not at a point right now where you’re gonna go sign a guy that’s for sure going to be your starting left guard or right guard. That’s just what it is. I wish I could tell you different.”

Schneider also touched on the Seahawks not signing a top free agent lineman during last week’s initial free agency surge.

According to ESPN’s Brady Henderson, Schneider confirmed to reporters last week that Seattle pursued highly touted guard Will Fries in free agency. Schneider said the Seahawks wanted to bring in Fries for a physical after the former Indianapolis Colts guard suffered a season-ending broken tibia this past October.

However, teams weren’t allowed to conduct physicals on free agents until the new league year began on March 12. Fries ended up signing a massive deal with the Minnesota Vikings on March 11.

“Those first three days (of free agency), it provides a lot of opportunity for risk and error because you’re not able to … (bring in players) on visits,” Schneider told Wyman and Bob.

“(On visits), they can sit down with the coaches and we can have our doctors evaluate them, see where they’re at in their career, what their durability grade would be, what a final medical exam would be, how they’re interacting with the coaches, how are they treating the staff. … Those interactions are really important.”

In-house ‘upside’ and the draft

Schneider also continued to express confidence in Seattle’s young group of interior offensive linemen, which includes center Olu Oluwatimi and guards Anthony Bradford, Christian Haynes and Sataoa Lamuea.

Oluwatimi and Bradford were 2023 draft picks, while Haynes and Laumea were 2024 draft picks. Bradford made 11 starts at right guard last season before suffering an ankle injury. He was replaced by Laumea, who started the final six games. Oluwatimi made eight starts at center after Connor Williams’ abrupt midseason retirement.

Schneider said he thinks that young group of linemen can benefit from a more balanced offense, which is what the Seahawks are expected to have this season under new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak.

“When you’re throwing the heck out of the ball, it’s pretty hard to gain confidence when you’re not running off the ball,” Schneider said. “And that’s what happened with the young group of guys last year, quite frankly. We were throwing the crud out of it (and) we didn’t really establish the running game. You gain confidence when you come off the ball and you can block your guy, instead of being on your heels all the time.”

Schneider said it’s encouraging that Kubiak, new offensive line coach John Benton and incoming run game coordinator/senior offensive advisor Rick Dennison were excited to work with Seattle’s young linemen.

Schneider also pointed to this year’s draft class, which is widely regarded to feature a strong crop of offensive linemen. According to ESPN, 16 of the top 100 draft prospects are offensive linemen – including six interior linemen. The Seahawks have 10 draft picks, including five in the top 92.

“The draft is strong. It feels like a really nice group,” Schneider said. “And we like the guys we drafted last year – the younger guys that we have in that room. And our coaches were excited to come here and work with those guys as well. (They) saw an upside in them.”

The John Schneider Show airs on Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob each Thursday at 4 p.m. leading up to the first round of the NFL Draft on April 24. Hear this week’s edition in the podcast at this link or in the audio player near the top of this post.

More on the Seattle Seahawks

• Report: Key Seattle Seahawks OLB takes pay cut in reworked deal
• What DK Metcalf said about the Seattle Seahawks on a podcast
• Bump: What Seattle Seahawks gain and lose from swapping QBs, WRs
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Pro Bowl wide receiver DK Metcalf is on to the next chapter of his NFL career, but he took some time to reflect on his tenure with the Seattle Seahawks coming to an end on the Get Got Pod with former Seahawks running backs Marshawn Lynch and Mike Robinson.

Report: Key Seahawks OLB takes pay cut in reworked deal

There were a few interesting things Metcalf shared about his last season with Seattle in particular in the episode released Thursday.

The 27-year-old Metcalf, who was sent from the Seahawks to the Pittsburgh Steelers last week after requesting a trade, said he was grateful for the six seasons he spent with Seattle.

“I just appreciate the Seahawks organization for taking a chance on me in the second round back in 2019,” Metcalf said. “… It’s just time for me to move on. I think the grass is greener on the other side.”

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It’s clear, however, there was some friction for Metcalf in 2024, which was the Seahawks’ first year after hiring Mike Macdonald to replace Pete Carroll at head coach. That change came with a new offensive coordinator, Ryan Grubb, who Metcalf apparently didn’t mesh well with.

Asked about an instance during a game against the San Francisco 49ers where cameras caught Metcalf picking up a headset and speaking into it, Metcalf shared his side of the story.

On that particular day, we were playing the 49ers. They got this DB I’ve been going against since he was – we came (into the NFL) together. He played with the Giants so I went against him twice already, and then he was with the 49ers. So I’m like, OK, on third down you have to run past him early because they’re just going to sit at the sticks.

On third-and-4, we call all hitches. Like, that’s not running past him. He’s waiting on it. So when he sat and knocked the ball down, I come to the sideline like, let me just get the headset. Maybe he don’t need to hear it from you or he may have missed the text. So I said, ‘Grubb, can we please run by these guys?’ Like, they are sitting at the sticks on third down. In order to open up the underneath stuff, they got to be threatened deep first.

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And that was the last week me and Lock (Tyler Lockett) did that. That was the last week me and Lock did any extra game planning.

Lockett was another topic that Metcalf spoke about. Seattle released the veteran receiver earlier this month after 10 years with the franchise, and Metcalf seemed to be disappointed in what Lockett went through during the 2024 season.

“That was like the start of Lock coming to me like, yeah, bro, I don’t think I’ma be here next year with the way that they doing me,” Metcalf said. “I’m like, that’s my brother. Lock just came off a band last year. Like, Lock had if not 1,000 (receiving yards in 2023) it was (darn) close to it, bro.

“It’s like, I had to sit and watch my brother be told you not good enough no more. And that was basically the hard part for me because I see this man cooking on Sundays. Whenever we need a big time third down, throw it to Lock. He’s gonna catch it.”

You can hear the full conversation between Metcalf, Lynch and Robinson in the video at this link.

Seattle Seahawks news and analysis

• Bump: What Seahawks gain and lose from swapping QBs, WRs
• Huard: Reported Seahawks pre-draft visitor is ‘dynamic’ threat
• How the Seattle Seahawks and NFC West will benefit in 2025
• Rost: What’s the Seattle Seahawks’ plan for the offensive line?
• Mock Draft Roundup: What options do Seattle Seahawks have at No. 18?

Follow @BrentStecker