Three Cheers for Ichiro!

I know, I know; it's been a while since I've blogged, but let's face it - February was just a crappy month.  But Spring Training has started, the days are getting longer, and I've almost come to terms with my hatred of Scott Boras (more on that a bit later).  Despite my snarky comments and harsh criticisms, I do try to be a positive person, so I've been waiting for something fun and exciting to happen in baseball in order to share the news with all of you.  My wish came true yesterday, when the Seattle Mariners signed Ichiro Suzuki for one year at $750,000.  Yeay!

Now, if you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that I love Ichiro; not like I love Max Scherzer and DEFINITELY not like I love Iván Rodriguez - it's more like a "this guy is super-cool and has charisma and is just so darn likeable!"  When Ichiro became a free agent at the end of last season, I told my husband that the Mariners should sign him so that he's able to finish his career with the team that originally signed him over twenty years ago out of Japan.  Well I'm glad someone finally listened to me, because having Ichiro in Seattle is absolutely storybook perfect (I know most people think of Derek Jeter's career as "storybook," but I've always liked Ichiro better!).  

Last season, Ichiro appeared in 136 games with the Miami Marlins, hitting .255 (with an On-Base Percentage of .318 and Slugging Percentage of .332) across 215 plate appearances - more than half of them coming as a pinch hitter.  Over the past five seasons, split between the Marlins and New York Yankees, he hasn't been able to replicate the success he enjoyed in Seattle, hitting .263 in 725 games.  Still, the Mariners are very happy to have Ichiro on board (time to sell more jerseys!), and they insist (as does Ichiro himself) that this is not just a "swan song" thing - he's going to play regularly, and he's going to make a difference for his team (which I believe to be true, because the guy can still hit).  Ichiro is not planning a retirement tour this season akin to those of Jeter and David "Big Papi" Ortiz - he just wants to play, and if you ask him, he'll tell you that he wants to do so until he's at least 50 years old (you GO, Ichiro!).  The only downside of having Ichiro in Seattle is that he won't get much TV coverage unless the Mariners make it to the playoffs, but hey - it's just nice knowing that a decent guy like Ichiro will be around for at least one more year.

Sigh!  Now about Scott Boras...  For those of you who don't know him, Boras is a greedy, selfish, money-hungry and arrogant sports agent with clients such as Bryce Harper, Stephen Strasburg, Max Scherzer, and yes - Iván Rodriguez.  He's a "player's agent" - the guy who will get you the lucrative contract and will "show you the money".  But the downside to that is when you put a price tag on a player and that price is too high (especially when the player is a pitcher).  This is the case with Jake Arrieta, a free agent who is currently unemployed.  This former Oriole and Cub has a Cy Young award, a championship ring, and All-Star game appearances.  At the age of 32, his fastball has slowed down just a tad, but not enough for him to be unemployed at this point in the off-season.  Yu Darvish (also 32 years old) was able to sign as a free agent (even after Tommy John surgery and a not-so-stellar job in the playoffs with the Dodgers).  Why was Yu able to get a job and Jake is still sitting around waiting for Boras to do something?  I just think that Boras is asking for way too much money.  Teams don't want to spend a lot on a pitcher when they know that players like Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, and Clayton Kershaw will become free agents at the end of the upcoming season (and no team wants to pay the luxury tax).  So why not lower the price on Arrieta?  Because Boras is an idiot!  The Nationals, Phillies, and Brewers have all shown interest in signing Arrieta for less than what Boras is asking, so why not lower the price on the poor guy a little?  This is what annoys me about professional sports - when they're treated like cattle!

Oh, and one more thing about Boras:  He has a Doctorate in Pharmacy and a law degree.  There's nothing wrong with that (says the woman who has a Masters in Sports Management but owns a kitchen shop!), unless you use both degrees to work defending pharmaceutical companies against class-action lawsuits.  I won't even GO there or tell you about the many cases he defended and millions of dollars he made for pharmaceutical companies - let's just say I have very strong opinions regarding pharmaceutical companies, and now that I know that Boras was involved, I'm not surprised.

So what do us die-hard baseball fans do to not get disheartened by the ugliness of the business side of baseball?  Well I, for one, have been listening to Spring Training games during the workday, and that has me excited for the upcoming season.  We have a lot to look forward to - the All-Star game being played at Nationals Park, Manny Machado trying his hand at shortstop, Shohei Ohtani making his US debut with the Los Angeles Angels, and the Miami Marlins trying to put together a team now that most of last year's players are gone (I'm guessing J.T. Realmuto will play all nine positions at once!), Adam Wainwright just being his hot and sexy self...  Whether it's Ichiro making $750,000 or Darvish making $21 million, we just want to watch these guys play.  Just a few more weeks to go until we hear "Play ball!" 

The Groundhog Days of Winter

In just a few days, Major League pitchers and catchers will be starting to report to their team's spring training camps in Arizona and Florida, despite the minus-zero wind chills here in Maryland and the seven feet of snow in New England.  The first spring training game is just two weeks away, which is beyond exciting for baseball nerds like myself.  I did keep my baseball feet wet during the off-season though, going with my husband and son to NatsFest in December and attending the annual meeting of our local SABR chapter just 2 weeks ago.

NatsFest, which was held in the DC convention center, was full of Nationals players available for photo ops.  We met manager Matt Williams and relief pitcher Drew Storen, as well as TV and radio personalities.  The rich people were able to get autographs from several players while the rest of us watched a Q&A with some of the players.  It was a nice event, though I would have liked more free stuff (don't give us a big plastic bag when we get there and not give us free stuff to put in it!  Haven't you ever been to a fitness expo where the Bic pens and the lanyards are free for the taking?).

The SABR conference was a completely different experience.  Members of the Society for American Baseball Research are (believe it or not!) nerdier than I am.  These people can rattle off statistics that the normal person would never consider to be a statistic.  Did you know that Tony LaRussa managed a total of 647 players?  No, I didn't either.  How about the fact that on two occasions, a team scored 13 runs with all RBIs coming from home runs (the Yankees and the Reds)?  Nope, I didn't know that either.  Also interesting to note was that at a game in April of last year, every Orioles starter scored a run.  Yep, that's what these people do all day - try to out-do each other with interesting but unusual statistics.  If these people used their nerdiness for good, we would have a cure for cancer, vision loss in humans could be restored, and colonoscopy preparation wouldn't be such a nightmare.  But hey, I got Jayson Werth and Manny Machado bobble heads in one of their drawings, and a very good lunch was included with the price of our registration. 

So now what?  Now we wait for the players to start trickling in and for the predictors to do their predicting for the upcoming season.  As I read all the projections, the one thing that makes me happy is that neither the Yankees nor the Braves appear on any of the "Top 10 teams" lists.  Most experts put the Nationals on top, with the Dodgers and Cardinals close behind.  I would actually like to see the Seattle Mariners do well this season.  They have Robinson Canó and Nelson Cruz offensively, and one of the best arms in Felix Hernandez.  And the Royals did so well last year that it would be nice to see them do well this season too, especially with their good run production. 

As far as my Nationals are concerned, they have six good arms in their starting rotation.  That's right - most teams have five starters and the Nationals have six since they signed Max Scherzer.  Rumor has it that Tanner Roark will be moved to the bullpen, :-( and some are even saying that Stephen Strasburg could be traded (!).  All I know is that Bryce Harper needs to grow up and step up, Jayson Werth served his 5 days in jail for driving too fast (though he probably won't start the season because he is recovering from off-season shoulder surgery), and Ryan Zimmerman is being moved from third base to first base.  And by gosh, Wilson Ramos, can you stay healthy for one full season?  So let's wait and see if the predictors and experts and SABR analysts are right about the Nationals - only six weeks left until Opening Day!

In the meantime, you should know that Gary Sheffield played in 51 different ballparks.  Yep!  Now you can go back to shoveling snow...