THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Answers on Metcalf, M's and the mess of the Pac-2

Apologies.

There is a bulging file of emails — many with legitimate questions — that I’ve failed to address in a timely manner.

How many?

This is an unofficial count, but I’m guessing that there now should be enough to fill a tramp steamer sailing to the Far East.

Frankly, I’d rather not trek to Laos or Borneo to recapture all this mail, so I’m going to take on the massive homework assignment of finding some of the more interesting questions — then lumping them together and doing my best to answer.

All these subjects were brought up by several readers, so the questions have been paraphrased.

OK?

Good.

We’re off.

QUESTION: What is this deal with DK Metcalf’s contract? How long does it last, and has he asked for more money?

ANSWER: If Metcalf has begun agitated for a raise — his current deal runs through 2025 — then he’s secretly written it on a tiny cocktail napkin.

In other words, probably not.

If you’re an NFL fan, you know about salary caps, guaranteed money, dead cap hits and all of that.

Well, you know that stuff exists, although NOBODY outside the league actually understands it.

Metcalf is sitting on a contract worth $24 million per year, but this is his final year of guaranteed money.

That might be bad news for DK, except that wide receivers are making more and more every season.

Barring injury and assuming his normal productivity, the Seahawks likely would want Metcalf around for, say, two more years beyond ’25.

Club policy has been to negotiate in the year before a contract kicks into its final season, so logic suggests that we may be hearing about an extension for Metcalf sometime before the beginning of this regular season.

Got it?

QUESTION: Is this Bryan Woo injury a common thing? It sounds like he has soreness after some of his starts, but not all of them.

ANSWER: Yep, what we’ve heard from the Mariners makes you think he gets some kind of elbow inflammation — but only occasionally.

Of course, answers from pro teams and swear-on-a-Bible truth aren’t always the same.

Woo had Tommy John surgery three years ago, and now his problem seems to be something simpler, like: “Ouch!”

He missed a few weeks with the same issue at the start of the season, and then skipped bullpen throwing sessions after each of his last two starts — basically to just rest the elbow.

Maybe it’s going to come and go, until they find a way to treat the problem.

Or until he has another surgery.

The only thing that’s certain is that Woo’s presence — or lack of it — will have a massive impact on the Mariners’ fate the rest of the way.

In his six starts, Woo has posted an ERA of 1.07, the lowest in the major leagues.

QUESTION: Has all the unpleasantness surrounding the breakup of the Pac-12 — and especially at UW and Wazzu — factored in the departure of so many administrators?

It feels like it’s made them all miserable.

ANSWER: The first few times someone mentioned how unhappy the decision-makers at the two Washington schools might be, I just laughed at the coincidence.

But the more you think about it.

Maybe.

Neither of the presidents, Kirk Schulz (WSU) and Ana Mari Cauce (UW), had talked openly about retiring or changing positions prior to the Pac-12 mess, and now both will be gone.

Both athletic directors also have bolted, although Pat Chun’s move from Pullman to Montlake — more money, bigger school, bigger conference while boldly dumping WSU — makes him the all-time Benedict Arnold at Washington State.

UW had a spot open for Chun because the Huskies’ “new” athletic director, Troy Dannen, left for Nebraska without even staying a year.

Maybe the marine layer got to him.

To be fair, though, there have been other self-serving geography changes, too.

Oregon State football coach Jonathan Smith fled for Michigan State, and Beavers record-setting running back Damien Martinez admitted he took a heftier NIL deal at Miami.

Hardly a surprise that the losers in this shakeup came at Oregon State and Washington State, is it?

Actually, I have ANOTHER boatload of questions concerning what’s going to happen to the “Pac-2” in the next few years.

Might not be as drastic as you suspect.

We’ll get to all of that in a couple of days.

Watch this space.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”