Reports have been swirling for a week or so that Ichiro is unhappy with the Mariners and wants to be traded. The second part of his aledged desires seems to be more wishful-thinking on the part of most of the baseball media, but the first part appears to be true. The Seattle P/I ran a translated version of an interview from Ichiro that ran in a Tokyo paper (you can read it here and a commentary on it here). I am in essential agreement with the commentary, and I find Jeff Nelson's words in one of the two articles to be very problematic.
The summary of the matter, as I see it, is that Ichiro is sick of loosing, and he's not so sure the majority of his teammates care whether or not the win. He picked card-playing as an example of things that go on in the clubhouse, rather than game prep. A number of the Mariners seem to have taken offense on the matter, but Ichiro is right. If the team isn't winning, the players probably should be playing cards or goofing of before game time. We know that players are friends with each other. Play cards elsewhere. On a quick side, I believe the card-playing is just an example of distracting, non-baseball related activity of which there could be many different forms. It seems to me and to Ichiro, that when a team is on their way to another 90+ loss season, every player on the team needs to be far more worried about the season than which player is the current chips leader.
Here's what Jeff Nelson said that bothered me:
"Put it this way," Nelson said, "in a rough season, when you have so many young guys, they're just happy to be in the big leagues. They're out of the minors. They're going to different cities. They're making big-league money. Who cares if they win or lose?
"With guys like (Yuniesky) Betancourt or (Jose) Lopez, it's hard to tell them, 'Hey, it's time to win.' It's overwhelming. Give them some time to shine. Maybe next year you tell them that it's time to buckle down."
What a bunch of lies. If the rookies are just happy to be there, and aren't concerned about winning, they won't be there very long. In a post-season commentary concerning the Oakland A's, Eric Chavez was applauded (and rightly so) for saying the exact opposite of Nelson. Chavez called a team meeting for the express purpose of letting the numerous rookies on the team know that a "We're just happy to be here" attitude was unacceptable, and that this was about winning.
Cheers for Ichiro.
Posted by chefchuddy at November 17, 2005 09:00 AM | TrackBackOn a side, I think the claims that Ichiro wants to be traded are not accurate. My understanding is that he wants the team to do better, but he doesn't want to bail out yet.
Posted by: Deacon Blues at November 17, 2005 10:51 AM