Ichiro’s agent was campaigning this weekend for the fact that the Mariners’ outfielder is not in fact ready to leave the team after 2007. But its not like the rumors came out of nowhere: it developed from a story in Japan Baseball Daily in which they say they talked to Ichiro and he told them he doesn’t want to play for a loser anymore.
I’m sorry if I don’t find Ichiro’s argument made through his agent to be compelling; everyone knows he does not want to play centerfield, and with the signing of Jose Guillen in the offseason it looks like that may be exactly where the M’s put him this season. Then his agent tries to play the humble Japanese player card, saying that nothing has been determined and trying to make Ichiro into a team player. But I’m sorry, Ichiro is not a team player, he is just a quieter version of TO.
Are you trying to tell me that a guy who has reduced his name down to one, much like Madonna and Cher, is a team player? For God’s sake, take a look at his wikipedia entry:
Ichiro Suzuki, often known simply as Ichiro (イチロー)…
Seriously, its only a matter of time before he starts asking to be known as the Japanese symbols, or the “player formerly known as Ichiro”. Say its a cultural thing all you want, I don’t hear Hideki Matsui or Daisuke Matsuzaka asking to be known as Hideki and Daisuke, so I can only assume its an ego thing. Hell, read the article in the Seattle Times and count how many times they use “Ichiro Suzuki”, “Mr. Suzuki”, or just simply “Suzuki”… not one time huh? That’s my entire point. Its complete irony, a newspaper article about a guy’s agent who says he is all about the team and not himself, yet his given name of Suzuki appears a grand total of 0 times in the same article as evidence of how this guy’s ego needs to be fed like a pack of ravenous dogs.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have it in for Mr. Suzuki, but you gotta be who you are, and I don’t buy the whole “team player” bit that he and his agent are selling. Give TO all the crap you want, but at least he is honest about who he is and he puts it out there. If I were the M’s, I’d let Mr. Suzuki go wherever the hell he wants after 2007… better yet, trade his sorry butt right now to Kansas City for some prospects and see how he likes it there.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Gary Garland // Jan 16, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Actually, the source for the Ichiro leaving Seattle story was Sankei Sports. I merely summed up the article on my piece for Japan Baseball Daily.
On Ichiro using his first name, that was suggested by his old (and now late) manager Akira Ogi due to all the Suzukis that were in the league at the time (Ken Suzuki at Seibu and Takanori Suzuki at Yokohama to name two) as a way to differentiate himself.
2 eric // Jan 16, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Thanks for the info Gary… I tend to skim articles and not exactly read them, so thanks for the Sankei Sports tip. Its good to get that kind of stuff right.
But I did notice that you signed in as Gary Garland, and not simply, “Garland”. And first: just because someone suggests it doesn’t mean you have to follow through, and second: there is not another Suzuki in MLB, so even if it had merit at some time, now it just seems pretentious.
To give you an example from non-sports, how about this little one-liner: “Seacrest out”…. wow, just punched a baby. Don’t know why but “Seacrest out”… damn, that’s another baby. I better stop this before it gets ugly.
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