Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Dominican infielder Kendry Martinez was among 17 additional players agreeing to seven-figure bonuses, a $2.5 million deal with the Seattle Mariners.

Thirty-two players have agreed to bonuses of $1 million or more through two days of the international signing period, which opened Wednesday and runs until Dec. 15.

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays, hoping to sign Roki Sasaki, were among five teams that have not finalized any contracts and kept open their entire signing bonus pool allotment, joined by Kansas City, the New York Yankees and Colorado. The San Diego Padres, also wooing the Japanese pitcher, struck one deal for $10,000, the highest amount that does not count against a team’s bonus pool.

Sasaki is considered an international amateur by Major League Baseball because he is under 25 and has not played six seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball. Under the MLB-NPB posting agreement, he has until Jan. 23 to finalize an MLB deal.

Agreements included Dominican shortstop Wilfri De La Cruz and the Chicago Cubs ($2.3 million), Venezuelan outfielder Yorger Bautista and Seattle ($2.1 million), Dominican outfielder Kevin Alvarez and Houston ($2 million), Venezuelan shortstop Liberts Aponte and Cincinnati ($1.9 million), Dominican right-hander Raudy Reyes and Atlanta ($1,797,500), Venezuelan infielder Eliomar Garces and Tampa Bay ($1.6 million), Dominican infielder Juan Cabada and the Cubs ($1.5 million), Bahamian shortstop Ayden Johnson and the Athletics ($1.5 million), Dominican shortstop Dorian Soto and Boston ($1.4 million), Dominican outfielder Royelny Strop and St. Louis ($1.4 million), Dominican outfielder Kenny Fenelon and Milwaukee ($1.3 million), Venezuelan infielder Yulian Barreto and San Francisco ($1,118,700), Dominican shortstop Juan Tomas and the Cubs ($1.1 million) and Dominican outfielder Elorky Rodriguez and Texas (1,097,500

Players born from Sept. 1, 2007, through Aug. 31, 2008, are eligible to sign during this year’s period, which ends Dec. 15. Teams began the week with signing bonus pools ranging from about $5.1 million to $7.6 million.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

With the end of the regular season and the arrival of the offseason for the Seattle Seahawks, all eyes have turned to the future to discuss what to expect when the 2025 season arrives, and how the Hawks will navigate the offseason.

One of the first pieces of business for the Seahawks, as noted on Field Gulls Wednesday, is to address the salary cap and come into compliance for the new league year in mid March. With that in mind, the discussion invariably turned to which players the teams could opt to move on from in the coming weeks, and a variation of a common theme was immediately posted into the comments.

Without reworking any deals (or trades), simply cutting Lockett, DreMont Jones, Noah Fant, Jenkins, and Roy Rob-Harris would clear up nearly $50M in cap space.

There has been no shortage of such proposals regarding how to address the salary cap issues the Hawks face in 2025, and these names are obviously the easiest path to cap compliance, which is why they are so often noted in the comments or on social media. Add in proposals to trade or restructure DK Metcalf or Geno Smith, and the discussion is one that has already been had multiple times.

However, before jumping in to discuss 2025, this is a step back to look at the 2024 offseason and then look at the proposed changes through a different lens and one specific question. So, turning the page back to the 2024 offseason, here is a list of the players whose contracts John Schneider in order to make the cap work in 2024:

• Geno Smith: $9.6M roster bonus converted to signing bonus, pushing $4.8M into 2025
• DK Metcalf: $11.875M of base salary converted to signing bonus, pushing $9.5M into 2025-2028
• Tyler Lockett: $8M signing bonus, pushing $4M into 2025
• Dre’Mont Jones: $9.875M converted to signing bonus, pushing $7.4M into 2025-2027
• Noah Fant: $9M signing bonus, pushing $4.5M into 2025
• Rayshawn Jenkins: $5M signing bonus, pushing $2.5M into 2025

In addition, during the season the Hawks then traded for:

• Roy Robertson-Harris: 2026 6th round pick
• Ernest Jones: 2025 4th round pick

The loss of a pair of Day 3 picks is not entirely irrelevant because Day 3 picks have the opportunity to turn into something, but the reality is most Day 3 picks never amount to anything in the NFL so trading a pair of them for 855 snaps over half a season is not a horrible use of draft capital. Simply for comparison purposes, Rashaad Penny played just 792 snaps for the Seahawks during his five seasons in Seattle after being selected in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft. Or, more recently 2022 second round pick Dee Eskridge logged 444 offensive and special teams snaps for the Seahawks during his three seasons with the team.

Getting back to the discussion at hand, though, the reality is that the majority of players on the list of those that many fans are ready to release in order to come into cap compliance are the exact same players the team either signed or restructured last year.

That, of course, raises the question about what has changed over the course of the year?

If a player was seen as part of the solution in 2024 to the point that John Schneider was willing to borrow against the future in order to keep that particular puzzle piece on the roster, then have things truly changed so much in the last few months that that player is now a part of the problem? Is a player who was just acquired for draft capital in October already no longer a part of future plans?

Things have certainly changed over the course of the past year, but if almost all of the players signed or restructured by the front office in the spring of 2024 are no longer viewed as part of the solution for 2025, where is the disconnect? Was the 2024 offseason even that much worse upon review? Or is this simply a new era in salary cap management for the Seahawks with former New Orleans Saints cap specialist Joey Laine on staff where cap space is fungible and Seattle is now the Big Easy Northwest?

There are certainly more questions that can be asked, but the reality is that until the team shows the direction it will take in the second season under head coach Mike Macdonald it will all be guesswork because the foundation of expectations that exists was set by the previous regime, and it’s a new era.

SEATTLE – A hit-and-run driver is still on the loose after seriously injuring a pet sitter on Christmas Day while she was out walking her cat near Seward Park in Seattle.

The crash came on the heels of the death of another dog walker this summer, Ruth Dalton, who died alongside her dog Prince, after Seattle Police say she was carjacked and run over by Jahmed Haynes.

“I have a lot of fractures that have to heal before I can learn to walk again,” said Karen Miely, still recovering from a hit-and-run from a care facility in Seattle.

Miely was just transferred to a long-term care facility recently after spending several days in the hospital.

“The biggest milestone would probably be getting the bar out of my pelvis,” said Miely.

She was hit at an intersection near her home while walking her cat Max, also known as Maximus Rex. He escaped unharmed and ran home.

Local perspective:

Miely also knew Ruth Dalton, another local dogwalker and pet caretaker, who was killed last August.

“Ruth used to walk five at a time,” said Miely.

Dalton died after Jahmed Haynes allegedly carjacked her and ran her over as she was caring for several dogs.

“It’s heartbreaking what happened to that family,” said Miely.

“When I heard the story she was hit on Christmas Day, I was like ‘What the heck?’ It’s like open season on dog walkers in Seattle,” said Melanie Roberts, Ruth Dalton’s granddaughter.

Years before the homicide, Dalton was also injured by a random driver, according to her granddaughter.

“She was starting into the crosswalk, and had seen a car a couple blocks away and she thought that they would have seen her in the crosswalk and it was an elderly woman, and she did not see grandma and she hit her in the crosswalk,” said Roberts.

Roberts says Dalton suffered knee injuries.

“My grandma was fortunate that the woman that hit her in 2009, she stopped and it was an honest to God accident, to hear that Karen was hit and left was disheartening,” said Roberts.

Miely wishes more security cameras were rolling where she was hit. Roberts believes Dalton would have advocated for that.

“Almost like neighborhood watch cameras. When she saw cameras around, she felt safer,” said Roberts.

Meantime, an online fundraiser is raising money for Miely’s recovery. She hopes to be home in April.

“I’m thinking, well, that’s around my birthday, I’d like to go home and see my cat. He’s patiently, he’s just being such a good boy,” said Miely.

She says investigators told her a car part was found in the area after the crash. However, it’s unclear if it’s related. FOX 13 reached out to Seattle Police for any updates. We are waiting to hear back.

Miely is continuing to ask anyone with security camera footage from around 7 p.m. on December 25 in the area of South Orcas Street and 51st or 52nd Avenue South to check their cameras and share footage with police if they haven’t done so already.

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