Yup, Ichiro wants out after this year
DMZ · January 12, 2007 at 12:04 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Unfortunately, the hot rumor mongering appears to have a good basis in reality, and the report on Japan Baseball Daily holds up. Dang.
You may use the machine translator of your choice if you’re not Deanna or another cool person who can read Japanese.
Short version: M’s suck, he wants to play for a contender.
We’ll link to the denial/clarifications/refutations as they come.
Update: For instance, see the denial, two posts up.
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109 Responses to “Yup, Ichiro wants out after this year”
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If Johjima, can do that as a catcher, he’s more valuable than Ichiro!
What will really bum me out is if we fail to trade him for a bucket O’ tasty prospects and he walks as a free agent. The M’s survived the loss of Johnson, Griffey, ARod, Mark Langston, etc just fine. Losing a star is sad but not necessarily devastating. But we need to get something back in return.
#100, not if I can outbid you. Lets see, hmm, a nickle and a quarter, oh look, 2 bucks, some pocket lint, oh, a Bruce Campbell bobblehead, I’ll be back in a second too.
First, the only people who want to take down the viaduct are the nice folks at Harbor Properties, which is largely owned by the Bullitt family and other of the secretive old Seattle rich. Why let us poor plebians from Phinney Ridge, Ballard, and Crown Hill actually get to see the waterfront once in a while. The property values of the rich will grow immensely if the viaduct is demolished, and we will all get to pay for it.
And how in hell are you going to build a tunnel down there when they had water problems on the Third Avenue Tunnel, which is a good ways up the hill from the viacuct?
As for Ichiro, I agree that his concerns are the same as those of us who care for/used to care for the M’s. Some of us remember the 11,000 attendance on Friday nights in the Dome that only ended in September of 95 when all the front runners jumped on board. Now, Mariners fans are like Sonics fans; late arriving, early leaving, and ignorant of the real history of Seattle baseball. I can not blame Ichi because there is absolutely no frigging chance that this management team will put a winner on the field any time soon. Hell, we could not get to the World Series with Edgar, Junior, Buhner, Unit, and A-Rod. Why the heck would we figure we could get there with the current guys?
We Seattites seem to think that everyone sees our home town like we do: living on Phinney Ridge is like living in the highest tiers of Heaven. Athletes, and their venal agents, do not think that way.
Did you see that fucktard Boras’ comment implying he could have gotten 51 a lot more dough? What a turd (Boras). He reminds me of Max Mercy in The Natural: Have you ever played the game? Of course he didn’t. He got cut from the JV team in middle school and spent the rest of the time stealing lunch money from little kids. He is one of those who always dissed the boys and girls who actually went to practice every day by saying, “I was going to turn out, but was too busy. I could have done better than those bums.”
Like I said: fucktard.
Anyway, I recommend we M’s fans get used to losing because that is our immediate future until the world ends in 2012 at the end of the Mayan calendar.
I can not hold it against Ichiro that he sees the handwriting on the wall.
And apropos of nothing, Ichi was one of the best clutch hitters I ever saw in his first couple of years here. He was the anti A-Rod. Is there any Mariner fan who did not see that A-Rod was not going to be a good, or even decent, clutch hitter?
In any event, for whatever reason, Icihiro has been no where near the clutch hitter in the last couple of years he had been in the first couple. He is a world class outfielder and a pretty fair singles hitter. He is a crappy lead off hitter, but we would bruise his ego if we hit him anywhere else. Given the personel on this team, he should not be leading off, except to placate his narcissistic wishes.
I would say trade him, but Lincoln, Bavasi, and the “management” would probably get a used bus and Joey Cora in return.
And sad to say, I went to High School with Wayne Perry, who is otherwise a hell of a nice guy.
A-Rod is the opposite of clutch. Felix Fermin [right now] would be so much better. Convince the Yankees that he helped us out and maybe they’ll be willing to punt A-Rod for Fermin, then we can pick him up.
Except, he’s not a clutch player so we don’t want him. Hmmm.. I knew there was a kink somewhere in that.
Um, what personnel on this team would be appropriate for leading off aside from Ichiro? Assuming, of course, that Fermin isn’t at our disposal to take his spot in the lineup, because I’d go for that in a heartbeat.
I suppose comments from someone posting as a Groucho Marx character are not to be taken too seriously…
vj can “suppose” all he wants, which I guess in some circles passes for analysis. But thanks for commenting in the apparent absence of someone who actually knows something.
I am guessing vj attended his or her first Mariner game in September of 95. Rufus and I, along with a couple others, were Mariners season ticket holders for several lean years before that. At the end of the day, I think that should give him some credibility. As for me, maybe a commentator should be judged by the logic, intelligence, and perceptiveness of the comments. Ad hominem does not pass for intelligent discourse any place that matters.
Fran Liebowitz suggests that if you believe we have education in this country, you are wrong. Statements like 107 prove her right. Everything Rufus wrote is accurate and a good deal more perceptive than a lot of stuff you read on Deadspin or Kissing Suzy Kolber. Rather than analyzing a screen name, maybe one could analyze the content. But then that would require intelligence and analysis…. Sorry.
I am not sure the Mariners have a true lead off hitter, but Betancourt would be a good place to start. A guy who never walks is only a decent lead off if he hits about .380.
Not every player has to be clutch, but a few would be nice. The old Yankees teams from the fifties and sixties did not have eight clutch hitters, but they did have enough to win a bunch of titles.
Ichiro on the right team, with power and pitching, would be great. I am sure he is thinking, with a good basis, that he could help a good team become a contender, or make a contender a champion. I think he is right. On better Mariner teams, that was his role and he played it beautifully.
I would hate to lose him, but I understand that he may grow tired of losing. So would I. So am I, rather.
Happy MLK, Jr. day Mariners fans.
Thanks RWA7. I do not remember seeing vj at any games before 9/95 either. It was good to see Frank Chopp down in Oly gave the tunnel a resounding no. That is the first good thing to come out of Oly in a long while.
Maybe vj would like Sexson to lead off….
As for my screen name, forgive me for enjoying one of the funniest men ever to make a movie. I aspire, though fall short, to his wit. Yes, vj, I have seen all the Groucho Marx movies and enjoy every one. Forgive me for having an actual personality.
If you get this this morning, join me at the country club for breakfast. I’ll buy you a G and T for your kind words. I am leaving now after I check the NYT and WP online for some real world news.
Go Seahawks.