After leaving followers attempting to decipher her cryptic tweets in Taylor Swift type about the place she would find yourself subsequent season, Breanna Stewart has gone again to her residence state of New York.
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Stewart signed with the Liberty on Feb. 1, after spending the final six seasons with the Seattle Storm. Stewie brings an intensive resume to New York, together with two WNBA championships, two championship MVP awards, and the 2022 scoring title. She is among the best athletes the WNBA has ever seen, and she or he’s solely 28, and simply arguably made the most important free company transfer in WNBA historical past.
Liberty loading up
Main as much as the beginning of free company, the Liberty traded for ahead Jonquel Jones from the Connecticut Solar. Jones, who’s a celebrity in her personal proper, was a transfer nobody noticed coming, and bolstered a roster that’s anchored by Sabrina Ionescu’s IQ and ability. They then added Stewart, and signed guard Courtney Vandersloot from the Chicago Sky, who is among the finest passers within the league.
New York gained items to make a deep playoff push, one thing they haven’t completed since 2002, and have subsequently created an excellent workforce that persons are desirous to see take the courtroom with the most effective beginning fives in latest historical past.
“I feel this group has a ton of potential,” mentioned Stewart to ESPN after her signing. “I feel there may be loads of wonderful gamers. The selflessness is what’s going to assist us set ourselves aside from everybody else.”
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What’s subsequent for the Storm?
The Storm, nonetheless, misplaced the most effective gamers to ever play for his or her franchise.
There’s a lot that goes into getting gamers to signal and re-sign, and it isn’t just like the Storm didn’t have the cash to maintain her. Exterior elements performed into Stewie’s resolution. Stewart’s lately retired teammate Sue Hen speculated that Stewie would signal with New York on The Ringer’s NBA Present. Hen mentioned, “She’s from Syracuse, which clearly shouldn’t be New York Metropolis, however it makes a distinction. It’s nearer. Her spouse is from Spain. It’s nearer. She has a household now. Your priorities and what you want from a workforce begin to shift and alter as a result of cash shouldn’t be the one factor at play.”
On the finish of the day, generally it simply doesn’t work out. That’s what occurred to Seattle within the Stewie sweepstakes. It simply didn’t work out.
The most effective issues about Stewart and her play type is that she will be able to play wherever she is required. Her versatility is an asset that New York will capitalize on. She will shoot, she will be able to make game-changing performs and she will be able to play unimaginable protection.
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That is the primary time in six years that Seattle is not going to have Hen or Stewie. It’s not one thing they haven’t seen, as each gamers missed the 2019 season attributable to damage. The saving grace for Seattle is that they nonetheless have All-Star Jewell Loyd. Due to that, the Storm aren’t in rebuild standing perse, however in an period of loads of uncertainty. They’ve gaps of their beginning 5 that may by no means be crammed by an offseason signing. Loyd will likely be referred to as on to anchor this workforce and step up into a bigger function, one thing she has by no means needed to do taking part in with each Stewie and Hen.
Moreover, if Mercedes Russell is wholesome, she will likely be referred to as on to play a bigger function attributable to her expertise. She hasn’t seen loads of time in Seattle, however with nobody to overshadow her, she may doubtlessly put up numbers like she did at Tennessee.
It’s evident that the Storm received’t be the identical workforce they’ve been for over half a decade, which is loopy to consider as they’ve been a juggernaut for thus lengthy. They received’t end on the prime of the league like they normally do, however they received’t end on the backside of the league both. They’re in basketball limbo, and so they most likely received’t depart it till individuals see them play. A playoff push shouldn’t be out of the query, but when they don’t signal somebody quickly, the chances are slipping.
For New York although, their breakout season has been lengthy anticipated. Individuals thought Ionescu can be that deciding issue, however she couldn’t do it alone. The entrance workplace has constructed a workforce round their franchise participant who is not going to solely help her, however deliver the extent of play and poise to the next normal. For the Liberty, something in need of a visit to the finals will likely be a disappointment.
Seattle Sounders FC (16-9-9, fourth in the Western Conference during the regular season) vs. Los Angeles FC (19-8-7, first in the Conference during the regular season)
The MLB offseason is in full swing, but things have been rather quiet for the Seattle Mariners so far.
Seattle Mariners have a new TV situation, according to The Athletic
President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto and general manager Justin Hollander are both on record saying the team is looking to add to its offense, particularly on the infield. But the team hasn’t been committal to how exactly they’ll approach that.
Seattle could look to upgrade in free agency. This year’s class isn’t very strong on the infield, but there are still a handful of options that seem to fit the club’s needs.
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The team also could go the trade route and offload some of its touted hitting prospects or a proven starter from its talented starting rotation to address its offensive needs. It seems more likely the trade route would include a package built around prospects rather than one of the team’s current starting pitchers. Both Dipoto and Hollander have said trading a starter isn’t one of their top options, with Dipoto calling it “Plan Z” during an end-of-season interview.
Seattle Sports’ Michael Bumpus is trying to read between the lines and figure out what the real plan is for the M’s this offseason. During Thursday’s edition of Bump and Stacy, he asked ESPN baseball insider Kiley McDaniel about the team’s offseason approach.
“They’re in a spot now where they have tried for, I guess, a couple offseasons now to shore up the offense while staying within their spending parameters,” McDaniel said. “There was that time four or five years ago (the 2019 season) where there was the quick reset where they underpaid relative to what they could have paid the payroll to then have more money to, then ramp up spending when the team was good. And that has now happened and they need an extra bat or two, but they don’t have the money to go on the free agent market and just pay $20-25 million per year to get the two bats they need.”
That puts the Mariners in a difficult spot decision-wise, McDaniel said. They could trade from the farm system and risk dealing away a future star for a shorter-term solution. Or they could go for under-the-radar signings of cheaper players, which hasn’t worked out in past seasons with the likes of AJ Pollock and Tommy La Stella.
“There’s no easy solution to this the same way that like (if) the Mets or the Dodgers want a hitter, they just get a hitter,” McDaniel said. “The Mariners have a puzzle and they’re missing a piece. So how do they manufacture that extra piece to solve the puzzle, which is basically spending $1 million on a guy that will be worth 20, or not trading a prospect that they think is good and getting a good player. They have to conjure something up kind of magically.”
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McDaniel said the easiest route for the front office may be one fans don’t want to hear after the past two seasons, which is being patient and waiting for the group of hitting prospects to start reaching the majors. Just two of the team’s top hitting prospects are projected to reach the big leagues this year by MLB Pipeline – second baseman Cole Young and catcher Harry Ford. Both played at the Double-A level last season, and Young is expected to start the 2025 season in Triple-A.
“They’ve done a really good job creating a good farm system full of young hitters,” McDaniel said. “So I think unfortunately … the easiest answer is to just wait a year or two until these guys come up and then you maybe have the homegrown solution, but then some of the veterans that are contributing right now, they might be gone, which then creates another problem. … There is not an easy solution to this issue other than raising payroll, which is obviously only up to the owner.”
A free agent fit M’s
McDaniel spoke about a few free agents who would fit the Mariners’ needs. Two were players McDaniel would advise teams not to sign: first basemen Justin Turner and Pete Alonso. Both were included as two of his free agents to avoid this offseason.
Someone who McDaniel thinks makes sense for Seattle to go after, though, is former New York Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres.
“Gleyber Torres (is) coming off a slightly disappointing year, one of the youngest guys in the free agent market (at) 28. I think two or three years at $15 to 17 (million) a year is probably what it costs,” McDaniel said. “He’s the guy that I think makes a lot of sense to possibly get some upside, get him locked in for multiple years (and he) can play multiple positions.”
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Torres was an All-Star in his first two seasons (2018-19), slugged a career-high 38 home runs during 2019 and produced a 113 OPS+ or higher in four of his first six seasons.
He hit a combined 49 home runs in the 2022 and 2023 seasons, but saw his power numbers decline and hit just 15 last season. In 154 games in 2024, he slashed .257/.330/.378 with a 1.7 fWAR.
“You have a chance to spend less than $20 million a year and get a guy,” McDaniel said. “But if you miss on him, now you have almost no money left and you’re forced – if you need to find a hitter – to either get lucky on like a minor-league signing or a one-year deal, or to trades some prospects.”
Tune in to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
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Seattle Mariners coverage
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TikTok food critic Keith Lee, who taste tests dishes from family-run restaurants around the country while sitting in his car, stunned his nearly 17 million followers in the last week with a video from Seattle that his followers alleged included him unknowingly eating a piece of sushi with a “worm” in it from Fob Sushi Bar in Seattle. The restaurant was his first and highest-rated stop in the city until all hell broke loose on the internet.
Lee did eat several other places while he was in town, however. Here’s where and what he thought of them.
King’s Barbeque House
518 6th Avenue S, Seattle
The ducks hanging in this window of this Chinatown spot caught the attention of Lee and his family, so they stopped to buy one and filmed the process of its preparation for takeout — including the head. “I’m not going to eat this, I just thought it was interesting,” Lee says. Cool, cool, cool.
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He proclaimed it seasoned to perfection, said it tasted like a duck but not gamey or exotic, and just seasoned meat — which… seems normal? Loved the rice and proclaimed the skin the home of all the flavor. Ultimately, he gave it a 9.5 out of 10 and said he likes Seattle.
Pike Place Market This stand outside Pike Place, where shoppers buy a cup or try as many different drinks as they like, caught Lee’s eye on a rainy day. His first sip was of the buttered rum cider, which he judged to be “real sour” and “real good.” That and lavender cider got 7s, and his highest rating went to the cinnamon spice cider at an 8. Lee bought everyone else waiting in line cider and attempted to leave one of his trademark large tips for the staff but noted on the video in a caption, “[T]ipping isn’t a thing in Seattle so it took some time to explain what we were doing.” In the end, Lee purchased 60 large cups and asked the vendors to keep anything left over from people who wanted a smaller size.
3114 NE 125th Street, Seattle
A fan of this restaurant emailed Lee to ask him to visit, saying it struggled during COVID and was still trying to get back on its feet. His family purchased doro wat, beef tibs, oatena, injera, and samboosa. Lee found the presentation of the beef tibs in a to-go container lacking because the grease was leaking, and although the beef was tough, the flavor was “deep” and “spicy.” Several family members rated it and opinions were varied. The samboosa was not to his liking, with too many lentils, and was “very mushy.” Its rating was a 1. He compares the doro wat to barbecue or braised chicken (it is stewed and covered in spices, so… yes) and gives it a 7.9. Why not an 8? The world will never know.
Lee and his family left the restaurant with $1,000 to pay for anyone who came in to eat after them, which is admittedly very cool.
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A Seattle teriyaki chicken taste-test
Various locations
Lee decided to get teriyaki chicken from several places and taste-test them against each other. What could go wrong?
Chickens from the top five most recommended places, including Toshio’s Teriyaki, Rainier Teriyaki, Nikko Teriyaki, Toshi’s Teriyaki in Bellevue, and Ichi Bento. Spoiler alert: Ichi Bento and Toshi’s tied, but Ichi would have won if they had rinsed the rice so it was less starchy, per Lee.
504 5th Avenue South, Suite 107A, Seattle
The Filipino food at Hood Famous received raves, though Lee seemed to struggle to accurately describe the dishes. He ordered multiple dishes, from savory mains to desserts. In describing them, the word ube was used a lot, and although it was an ingredient in some of the dishes, he meant umami a few times. But honestly, who knows?
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