Seattle Mariners To Drop Ichiro Suzuki?

Published on January 27, 2012 by Rob Kelley   ·   1 Comment

The Seattle Mariners are considering dropping Ichiro Suzuki. You heard it here first.

They are considering dropping him in their batting order entering the 2012 MLB season.

You didn’t really think I meant that the team was going to do anything such as cut or waive him entirely, did you?

Mariners manager Eric Wedge admitted on multiple occasions that he was considering moving Ichiro down in the lineup, and that he is now strongly leaning toward doing so as Seattle prepares to begin Spring Training next month.

But is this the right timing to make this move, considering the team finally acquired a hitter in new catcher Jesus Montero that can finally help an anemic offense turn things around this season?

Wedge says yes.

“I haven’t made any firm decisions,” Wedge said. “I know it’s a big deal to everybody. But my job is to communicate that to Ichiro and make sure everybody understands the options and what they’re fighting for and what I’m thinking about it. Right now, I’m going to be very open-minded to what we’re going to do, but I’ll go into Spring Training leaning a certain direction and then we’ll make a decision from there.”

Ichiro hit .272 last season and finished with 182 hits. It was the first time in 11 MLB seasons he didn’t hit better than .300, record 200 hits or earn an All-Star selection or an American League Gold Glove Award. Needless to say, the weight of having to carry Seattle’s offense for so many years may have finally gotten the better of him.

But who should replace Ichiro at the top of the M’s lineup, and just exactly how far should Wedge drop him down?

It has been reported that Ichiro could bat second. Or third. Wedge is toying around with the idea of having either Dustin Ackley or Franklin Gutierrez batting leadoff, with the other player batting in front of Ichiro in the three hole. While Ackley batted just one point higher than Ichiro in 2012, his on base percentage was .348, compared to just .310 for Ichiro. That will weigh heavily on the mind of Wedge.

Gutierrez batted just .224 in 2011, but his on base percentage was also better than that of Ichiro. It has also been said that Gutierrez has impressively improved his strength this past offseason, so the team is expecting big things out of him this season. With that being said, this could make him more of a middle of the order type of hitter, perhaps settling in right in front of or behind Montero and Justin Smoak.

The wild card in the equation may be Chone Figgins, whose struggles since joining the Mariners have been well discussed. If he can find the stroke that had him toward the top of the league in on base percentage while he was with the Los Angeles Angels, then he could return to the top of the batting order in Seattle.

If Ichiro drops in the lineup to third, it could very well hurt his batting average even more, although it would drive up his RBI and power numbers. He is certainly not the prototypical home run hitter, but he is capable of hitting 15-20 home runs per season, depending on where he bats in the order.

 

Kelley writes for The Pigskin Report as well as Hardball Chat. You can follow him on Twitter @RobKelley24 and Like The Rob Kelley Sports Network on Facebook. Kelley is a former sports reporter for various newspapers throughout the state of Florida, and had his first book published I'm Not a Quitter after moving back to Massachusetts.

Tags: Chone Figgins, Dustin Ackley, Eric Wedge, Franklin Gutierrez, Ichiro Suzuki, Jesus Montero, Justin Smoak, Seattle Mariners