Ichiro Reflects
Ryan Divish collects Ichiro’s thoughts on this disaster of a season. The whole thing is worth reading, but here’s my favorite line:
What are you feelings at the end of this season?
From a players standpoint, I couldn’t say I feel tired or relieved. All I can feel is I feel very bad towards our fans. It’s like what we saw today. It was a tough game, but our fans believed that we would come back. And not being able to overcome that is very tough as a player. We made a lot of our fans, a lot of the people in Seattle, expect so much from what we believe in. But at the end of the day, to come up with results like this, that’s very tough as a player. All you can feel is you feel just bad for what you’ve done this year. You feel very guilty. That’s all I can say as of now.”
I just hope Ichiro, upon reflection, believes it’s worth sticking around for another few seasons. A Mariners team without Ichiro is hard to imagine – he’s been the one consistent bright spot over the past decade.
Among the numerous wonderful things about Ichiro, he gets, possibly more than any other player in baseball, that the ability to play professionally is entirely due to the fans. The Bud Seligs and the LeBron Jameses of the world could really learn lessons from Ichiro.
Of course this comes from Ichiro, one of the few players who has nothing to be sorry for. Lopez, Figgins, Kotchman and Snell should be the ones feeling guilty.
Ichiro is a team player. He feels how the team feels.
With so many athletes that aren’t admirable, and with our only lens into their lives controlled media views, it’s hard to think that you can possibly know someone’s character. But I admire Ichiro.
Honestly, I don’t want Ichiro to be on this team next year. I did not get any satisfaction out of watching him continue his uncanny success. I respect the heck out of Ichiro and his work ethic, and professionalism, but there is no need to keep him on this awful team with no one to knock him in. He is a lead off hitter, and he does a superb job at doing just that, but there is no sense in paying him top dollar to not score runs. He can only do so much himself. If our roster was loaded with consistent hitters, then it would make sense. But it is not, which is why there is no need for Ichiro. Love him, but he is not a necessity for the 2011 Mariners. I am positive that I will get bashed for my comment, but it is just how I feel. The Mariners are not going to get better over one off season offensively. This team will be very young, and Ichiro will continue to do what he does, and he will continue to get stranded on base. Its rather disheartening to see everyone take a sigh of relief that baseball in Seattle is over. It is nice that we do not have to watch a AAAA roster take the field anylonger. Bottom line is, this team has a longggggg way to go. An offense needs diversity.
The only bashing I’d like to do is to say, Don’t look at it so short-termedly. 2012 may feel like it’s a long ways away, but it is shaping up nicely for us, with budget flexibility, a maturing young core (Smoak, Saunders, Ackley, Guti, Franklin, some internal DH like Mangini), and Felix + Pineda.
Full confession: 2012 feels like it might as well be 2112.
Oh, and Ichi will be going quite strong in 2012, don’t you worry about him.
2012 may very well be the last year that Seattle has Ichiro, assuming we don’t trade him. I can’t ever see trading him, but I can see him signing with the best West Coast team for the 2013 season, to try to win a championship.
Speaking of 2012, some Boston reporters are hinting that the Red Sox will try to trade Daisuke Matsuzaka this winter, and the Mariners might be interested–if he can be had for cheap.
Also, Yu Darvish might be posted by the Nippon Ham Fighters this off-season.
Next year would be the prefect year for Ichiro to try a different approach. I’d like to see him try to hit for power instead of amass another 200+ hits for no reason other than his own stats. There are multiple reasons for this:
This team needs more power hitting.
This team has another leadoff hitter, and he underperformed when asked to hit second this year. Returning to leadoff might help him. Let Ichiro hit third.
It would take a miracle to contend, so if the experiment fails, little is lost.
So, ignoring the fact that Ichiro has been one of the best players of the last decade doing what he’s been doing, you would like him to change?
Just because the team around him sucks doesn’t mean he needs to do something different. Everyone except him needs to do something different. They’re the ones that suck.
Yeah, let’s take the one part of the Mariner offense that’s working and ‘change’ it. Are you serious?
And Ichiro gets it. He gets that the team let down the fans, even though he wasn’t responsible. Isn’t it remarkable that he had a very good year, but he’s the one stepping up and taking responsibility for the team sucking?
It’s entirely up to Ichiro if he wants to be traded as he now has 10-and-5 rights which allows him to veto any potential deal.
B-b-b-but he doesn’t have the “will to win” a-a-and he really only cares about his own statistics and he only hits singles and he never dives for balls and he’s not (insert clear “inner-circle” HoF player name) a-a-a-a-and he’s so OVER-RATED!!!!
I wuv you, Ichiro!
Thanks USSM, and all the fine people who make this the only baseball site I expect to enjoy every time.
To be fair to all sides involved in the Ichiro debate:
No other player on our roster does work harder than Ichiro and I hope he feels the same way about wanting to win the World Series as a lot of the ticked off fans do.
BUT, having said that, for a team that needed run production, powers, doubles, etc. Ichiro needed to hit 3rd this year while Figgins hit 1st and have Ichiro TWEAK (not change radically by trying to hit 30 HRs, but TWEAK) his game to the game where he was about having 40-45 doubles instead of 30 and having a bunch of dinky infield singles and bunts.
Ichiro can do ANYTHING on a baseball field, why they didn’t want to try him at #3 and see if MAYBE he could be some kind of a Edgar Martinez-hybrid on a team that lacked power BADLY. I don’t get it.
And if Ichiro blocked that kind of move when Wak was here, shame on him.
But NOW I understand after this year, it’s wrong to blame Ichiro for all the team’s misery (even if he is overpaid a little bit).
Where the blame is deserved is Armstrong/Lincoln, and for that matter, Nintendo.
How these IDIOTS get to keep their jobs and get to keep pissing off the fans through all this losing and crap, I have no idea.
And if Armstrong or Lincoln are man enough to take the microphone ever again at a press conference, the fans better get answers.
They needed to APOLOGIZE to the fans rather than THANK them this weekend.
End of story.
Dear God,
Please don’t make this so. Baseball in Seattle is all ready way too boring the way it is.
Thanks,
M’s fan
You shouldn’t be bashed for this comment; maybe beaten. Ichiro is one of about 3 things about the Mariners worth watching. He goes, fans go.
I agree to some extent, but the reality is, they make few decisions about roster. They have provided GM’s with nearly $100 million a year to build a winner. That is plenty of money. the problem is the previous GM is still influencing the roster with the poor decissions he made, even though almost all of his players are gone. The team needs another 2 years to recover from Bavasi.
And who collaborated with Bavasi on MANY of his moves and gave him the edict to trade prospects and unwisely spend money in order to speed up whatever rebuilding process was there at the time?
And conversely, who didn’t step up to the plate and be accountable to the fans when they wanted honest answers about what happened with Ken Griffey, Jr., Don Wakamatsu, or Josh Leuke this year??
They DO NOT DESERVE to be here at all running this team.
I wish they’d get out in the worst way.
Why does the Mariner Way have to be about rewarding mediocrity and making stupid and/or frugal decisions?
Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?
Damn it, I want new ownership.
This is why Ichiro gets the exclamation point.
Dodger’s fans did too when Fox owned that team….
This sums up why Ichiro is the greatest player Seattle has ever seen. I don’t know what to say to the people who think the only player who has ever had 200 hits in 10 consecutive season’s needs to change, but he and Felix are the reason I watch Mariners baseball. He is a true proffesional who works his hardest day in and day out to be the best he can possibly be. And for that, Ichiro, I thank you for allowing me to watch you play the field for the last ten years.
Am I the only one that thinks that Ichiro wouldn’t make a seamless transition to a power hitter if he were so inclined to try? It seems to be frequently suggested that he ought to ‘alter his craft’ and try and take more walks and hit for power. But just because he has a knack for timely home runs (and occasionally very long ones) doesn’t mean he can turn into a power hitter. Power is as much skill as it is strength and a round of batting practice blasts doesn’t translate to the real game. If it did, jeff clement would still be here. I think, at least at this point, that Ichiro would be crazy to alter his style. It’s up to the other clowns in the order to knock him in.
Ichiro batted third from 1997 to 1999 and he also batted clean up in his last season in Japan. It’s probably pure speculation to say that he blocked a move to bat third.
Based on the fact that he moved to centerfield before and his other previous actions and statements, it seems to make sense that he would be willing to bat third (or fourth) in the lineup if he was convinced that it was the best thing for the team.
Yeah. He would.
But I don’t think you could even convince the stats fans of that, let alone him.
Again, you’re assuming it will be a) a seamless transition, and b) a very successful transition. There’s evidence to suggest that, but it’s far, far less than overwhelming. Given that it’s less than overwhelming, I think you just can’t say it’s the best thing for the team.
Once again, this is focussing on your best player and making HIM change. Isn’t that ass backward?
I love how Ichiro’s quote starts with him saying “from a player’s standpoint.” Most players, if they said something like that, would then go on to talk about their own personal feelings about the season — their frustrations with their own performance, the emotional drain of constantly losing, their need to focus on the task at hand, the relief at the season finally ending, etc. But not Ichiro — even when he’s talking “from a player’s standpoint,” his thoughts are entirely on his role as a performer and his duty to not disappoint the people who are paying money to support and follow the team. That’s just so amazingly unique. He really should’ve started by saying, “from an Ichiro’s standpoint…”
You’re right and I agree with you. I’m not advocating moving him down in the lineup. I’m just wondering where all the speculation about what Ichiro is or isn’t willing to do comes from. He’s been pretty consistent in the interviews that the gives over here in Japan (and in the States), that he’s willing to do what the team wants him to do if that means winning.
Talking about moving him down in the lineup is talking about fixing one of the few parts of the team that actually isn’t broken.
No, it is not. Again, look at this team, we have two leadoffs hitters and a dearth of power. Evidence suggests he could hit 3rd.
It is like the season he was asked to play center field. Was that a bad idea because you don’t ask your best player to change? If Felix is throwing too many offspeed pitches, they’ll ask him to change, and he’s our best pitcher.
It’s not that strong of evidence. (And somewhat along the lines of saying if Figgins could handle 3rd, he’d be a good 2nd baseman. The evidence was there, but it wasn’t strong enough evidence).
Again, I think it’s ass backwards to focus on the best player and make him change, particularly when it doesn’t necessarily make HIM better. Asking Felix to throw more offspeed was to make him better.
Leave it Ichiro to be the one to accept collective responsibility. He’s just about the only hitter on the team that doesn’t have anything to be ashamed of. Only Branyan and Gutierrez performed close to their expected level this season…and even they took a step back from last year.
As for who IS to blame for last year’s failure:
— Whoever decided to sign Griffey. This set the stage for team-wide discontent and Wak’s firing.
— Griffey for not accepting the bench role he said he’d accept.
— The underperformers. Veterans who failed to approach their expected levels of production like Lopez, Figgins, Kotchman, Byrnes and Bradley. These are not guys in their waning years like Sweeney and Griffey and formed the core of the offense. And they sucked.
— Coaching staff. The preparation and management of this team were inadequate. Baserunning blunders on a team that isn’t putting a lot of guys on base are inexcusable, yet nobody ever seemed to suffer after getting picked off or tossed out on a foolish gambit for an extra base. That goes to the coaching staff.
— Wakamatsu. The Figgins incident had a lot to do with this lack of accountability, in my opinion. Chone was right to feel singled out and reacted about how you would expect he would to being yanked from the game without a single word from Wak. I’m probably the only one in the world who blames the manager in this case…but Wak laid the groundwork for Chone’s blowup over the previous months of the season by tolerating so many easily-avoided mental errors.
Furthermore, Wak’s management of the roster and in-game decision-making were often highly questionable. He consistently batted the player with the lowest qualifying wOBA in the league in the middle of the order. He watched Rob Jonhnson chase dropped or missed pitches all over foul territory. Shawn White. Jamey Wright. Bunting guys from first with one out. (Ok, a lot of managers make that mistake). I’m sure there are several I’m forgetting. Wak can be excused for some of the weird use of Bradley/Sweeney/Griffey due to having a crummy roster foisted upon him. And his guys did underperform (which is why they are higher on this list). But Wak can’t be completely excused.
— Jack Z. I love Jack Z. He must be made a permanent employee of the Mariners like Chuck Armstrong. But he’s on the list because he had something to do with the first point on this list: signing Griffey. I suspect this wasn’t all him…which is why he’s at the bottom. But the Leuke debacle is all him. By the time this blew up the season had already descended deep into the pit of irrelevance. But the evidence that Jack Z. just lied to the media about what his office knew about Leuke prior to the deal can’t be ignored. The tragedy is that it cost the team its scouting director, which is likely to hurt us going forward. This may be the one thing that really hangs over the team going into next year. Can Jack find another scouting director that’s as effective as Fusco?
Nowhere on this list will you find anything about Ichiro. Frankly, all the people on this list owe an apology to Ichiro, Hernandez and even the young players on this team struggling to win permanent spots on the roster. These players don’t deserve to be tainted with failure like they will be and their talent wasted on another losing season.
One of the things this team needed and still needs for that matter is leadership. The team leader is usually the most senior and best player on the team. I understand Ichiro not wanting to take on that roll given that he didn’t speak English, and came from Japan, playing in a completely foreign country. But all of that was true ten years ago. He has more experience than everyone on that team at this point. He is also the only one that has the work ethic, and the production to be able to say to the others that they need to step it up, cause he can back it up. Ichiro must step up next season, especially with all the new young players coming up. He understands and speaks English well, he is 37 with over 15yrs of professional baseball experience. Its time Ichiro steps up and takes control of the team. Its one of his responsibilities as the senior member of the team.