THE FRONT ROW with JASON ELLIOTT: Time to hit the reset button

Friday’s Seattle Mariner news kind of reminded me of my childhood a little bit.

Not necessarily the joy from a former player returning home, but if something isn’t going right, just hit the reset button.

Playing a video game, if you might be about to lose, just pull the plug.

If you restart something, or shut the power off, did it really happen?

AFTER A year in San Francisco, Mitch Haniger is returning to Seattle, traded for left-hander and former AL Cy Young Award winner Robbie Ray — who is still recovering from an elbow injury until after the All-Star break. Haniger, who had some of his best seasons in a Mariner uniform.

Not that Haniger was a big stats guy, but he was a good piece to the Mariners team that finally broke through and made the playoffs in 2022.

Losing him in free agency hurt Seattle a little bit last year, as the M's finished a game out of the playoffs in the American League.

Ray was hurt so early in the season last year that he was almost a forgotten piece in the team’s rotation with the emergence of Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo at the end of the season.

Seattle also acquired starting pitcher Anthony DeSclafani from the Giants, and got them to throw in $6 million in the trade. Seattle also acquired outfielder/first baseman Luke Raley from Tampa Bay on Friday.

Keep in mind, Seattle was just one game away from a playoff spot last year.

As much as Haniger might help Seattle get back to the playoffs, there’s still some doubt about the direction of this team as it gets closer to the start of spring training next month.

Most fans were almost sure that Blake Snell was going to come to Seattle, but it seems that the team has more than enough starting pitching.

And instead of getting another hitter to go with the rest of the lineup, Seattle is rumored to be interested in bringing back Carlos Santana for what could be a third stint with the club.

Speaking of third stints, it could also be possible that the coveted left-handed pitcher that arrives in Seattle this offseason isn’t Snell, but James Paxton instead.

Last Monday, as the Seattle Kraken hosted Vegas in the Winter Classic at T-Mobile Park, Paxton was in attendance, sitting in the Mariners owners' box for the game.

Like Ray, Paxton’s last season in Seattle (2021) was cut short due to injury.

Bringing him back might help bring Mariner fans back to the ballpark.

As for what it means for the team, we’ll soon find out.

A LITTLE closer to home, a new era will begin starting Wednesday night as North Idaho College plays its first men’s and women’s basketball games in the NJCAA’s Scenic West Athletic Conference since 2016.

NIC had some success in the SWAC before leaving, winning the NJCAA women’s basketball title in 2011 and the men getting back to the national tournament in 2016 before moving to the regionally-based Northwest Athletic Conference.

While wrestling never left, softball and volleyball will rejoin the conference starting with the 2024-25 season.

If nothing else, having some nationally ranked competition should help bring some attention back to the programs at North Idaho College.

On Wednesday, the NIC men will face Snow, which is ranked fifth in the latest NJCAA poll. Salt Lake, which visits next Saturday, is second.

As most coaches might tell you, at some point, you’ve got to play those really good teams at some point.

Might as well do it as soon as possible.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for The Press. He can be reached by telephone at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.