OT - Ichiro to the Yankees
Preliminary reports have Ichiro going to the Yankees. The Yankees grabbed Ichiro for RHP'S D.J. Mitchell and Danny Fahrquar. I didn't realize how bad Ichiro was this year. .261 Avg. .288 OPS. It will be interesting to see if he can return to his old form with a change of scenery. I think the Tigers deal is much better, and should put us over the top in the AL. Ichiro is 38 and I don't really see him doing much. The Yankees love those old players.
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i live in seattle and have been watching ichiro's decline. its not been pretty. i suppose he could help the yankees out as a depth OF and a solid PH. but he's really a bit too old. or maybe safeco really is that shitty to hit in.
also, rumblings i'm hearing from locals is that this could be a precusor to the team being sold...
true, then that is good news. Lincoln and Armstrong are a bunch of fucking idiots
they are precisely two fucking idiots
Preaching to the choir about that statement.
I can understand how Safeco field hurts power/flyball hitters, but that's not Ichiro. His decline cannot be blamed solely on the stadium. It's been hard to watch him the last couple years.
As a Mariners fan this is bittersweet and completely shocking. On one hand he has been terrible and it was time for the Ms to move on and start really investing in their youth movement. On the other hand he is Ichiro the face of the franchise since 2001.
This might actually be the best thing for both parties involved. Ichiro gets to go to a team that can and will compete for a world series now. He can gracefully retire after this season if he chooses. Meanwhile the Mariners don't have the lingering question of what to do with Ichiro hanging around their necks.
I agree, it was time to move on. The Mariners have consistently traded away/not developed young talent which makes it tough as we basically wasted all the years he was good except for 2001.
He's never been a power hitter and now all of his gaps are gone. Those gaps fit him well in Safeco. Now he's moving to a park that favors power hitters
well, ichiro has power, but never really tries to use it. all he seems to do these days is ground out to pitcher or short.
I've always heard he has power, but I don't believe it. If he had any power he would hit a respectable amount of HR, even if he wasn't trying to hit HR.
Ichiro gets to go from the arguably the worst hitters park to the best hitters park for lefties, so his numbers will jump. With Gardner out for the year, Swisher banged up throughtout the year and Ibanez and Andruw Jones taking up the corner OF spots, it's a nice insurance policy for essentially farm feeder prospects.
It's been touched on above, but Ichiro is going to be 39 in October, and his AVG, OBP, and SLG have all declined each of the last three seasons, this one included. He's a sub-.300 OBP guy this year. I think he's almost done. See for yourself:
The Yankees play the Mariners tonight, which means Ichiro will face his old team and home fans one last time. Very strange.
well, its actually the start of a 3-game series, so possibly 2 more times (after tonight). im thinking of going, just to see what happens.
and also to root against the yankees.
to bite into an Ichiroll.
Ichiro is batting .261 and has an OBP of .288, but on the road, he has a BA of .294, OBP of .314, SLG of .402, and OPS of .716, all signifacntly higher than the stats at home. He has 4 total HRs, 3 away. So a large part of his decline is playing in Safeco.
He's a significant defensive upgrade over Ibanez/Jones and adds some speed to the Yankee lineup. He's not a speed demon anymore, but he's still going to be one of the better base stealers on the Yankees.
He's not nealry the player he was in the past, but take him out of that awful Seattle lineup and Safeco, and put him in the Yankee lineup and Yankee Stadium, and he'll be a very solid player for the Yankees. Worst case scenario, he struggles, but is still a better bench option than Dewayne Wise.
No offense but the tigers used to love taking the old yankees players waaay past their prime. Ex: Johnny Damon and Sheffield.
Mariners had to send cash too. Ichiro is nowhere near worth his 18 million a year anymore. Not sure he ever was really. FA at end of year. Good move. Now move Chone and eat whatever cash it takes.
Will probably be a backup, but could provide some assistance as a defensive replacement and pinch hitter/runner. You never know how a change of scenery may help, but this trade is only relevant because of his past accomplishments, not what he currently brings to a major league club.
It's a solid trade. Nothing special though. The way ESPN and MLB Network are talking about it, you'd think it was the trade of the century.
Imagine the Braves trading Chipper Jones halfway through his last season. It's a big deal.
It's essentially a one year deal, until Gardner comes back. They have similar skill sets - fast, good field, good arm. The Yankees need him to be okay, not a star.
The Yankees don't really need his bat, and the price doesn't matter a whole lot. They need some better defense in left field and maybe a bit of baserunning - Ichiro can do both. I'm still not a huge fan of the trade, but I can at least understand where the Yankees are coming from.
I was looking at the Seattle stats last nght to see how Ichiro was doing this year and he wasn't anywhere to be found. Then it is on MGoBlog. I am always amazed by this site.