Ichiro didn't deserve the 2001 MVP

[D-train]

For 2001 I would have gone Boone/Giambi/Ichiro, but Ichiro was such a big story and as was pointed out Boone and Giambi juiced their way to the top, so I'd give the writers a pass on that one.

On the other hand, Ichiro should have won in 2004 when he got 262 hits, batted .372, and his 9.2 WAR was by far the best in the AL. MVP winner Vladimir Guerrero's was 5.6

We lost 99 games. Ichiro always performed best when the games didn't matter and pretty much sucked in the clutch.

[D-train]

2001 - He hit .350 but somehow didn't even have a .400 OBP. We had a 9 game lead at the end of April and coasted the rest of the way.
2002 - We had the division lead on August 18th and ended up finishing 10 games back. Ichiro finished 6th on the team in WAR with only 3.6. From August 18th to the end of the season he it .253/.651 Terrible.
2003 - We were 1 game up on August 24th but finished 3 games back missing the playoffs yet again. From August 24th on Ichiro put up a pathetic .229/.612 line.
2004 - By far his best year in a completely meaningless season when we lost 99 games finishing dead last 29 games back and 26 games out of 3rd place

Edgar could come out of retirement and go 0 for 1267 and still have a higher OBP than Ichiro.

[D-train]

More fun facts:

Ichiro once bunted with 2 outs and a man on second.

His last decent season was in 2010 yet he somehow played at least parts of another NINE seasons from 2011-2019 putting up .268/.652. Literally almost HALF of his career was bad.

His career .3548 OBP ranks 587th all time just behind other first ballot HOFers like Carlos Guillen, Jeff Burroughs, Matt Stairs and Manny Mota.

His career .7569 OPS ranks 861st all time just behind other first ballot HOFers like Pete Incaviglia, Eddie Stanky (who hit 29 career HRs), Randy Winn and fellow former Mariner bunting legend Eric Byrnes. Let that sink in. He has a LOWER career OPS than Eric FUCKING Byrnes.


These are the reasons I "irrationally hate" Ichiro. Might be the most overrated player of all time.

[Sibelius Hindemith]

His career .7569 OPS ranks 861st all time just behind other first ballot HOFers like Pete Incaviglia, Eddie Stanky (who hit 29 career HRs),

Too bad he didn't play for the Mariners because Niehaus would have been able to use his "ooooooh that stank!" call more often.

[SeattleSportsRUs]

For 2001 I would have gone Boone/Giambi/Ichiro, but Ichiro was such a big story and as was pointed out Boone and Giambi juiced their way to the top, so I'd give the writers a pass on that one.

On the other hand, Ichiro should have won in 2004 when he got 262 hits, batted .372, and his 9.2 WAR was by far the best in the AL. MVP winner Vladimir Guerrero's was 5.6

We lost 99 games. Ichiro always performed best when the games didn't matter and pretty much sucked in the clutch.

2004 clutch:



2004 team:



Ichiro had his short comings. But I'm not sure he's to blame for the 2004 M's losing 99. He might have had 300 hits on an above average hitting team.

Another thing, I think the 2001 Mariners was the team that set up the Mariners to fail for the next 2 decades. In order to maintain hype built up from the mid-to-late 90's, they bucked the entire philosophy of player development and simply paid for a bunch of solid free agents for short-term success. 2004 it reared its ugly head as they hadn't developed any young talent and many of the players who contributed to the solid 2001-2003 teams were over the hill. They then tried to fix the damage with duct tape by signing Sexson and Beltre and the domino effect was on.

[Sibelius Hindemith]

Another thing, I think the 2001 Mariners was the team that set up the Mariners to fail for the next 2 decades. In order to maintain hype built up from the mid-to-late 90's, they bucked the entire philosophy of player development and simply paid for a bunch of solid free agents for short-term success. 2004 it reared its ugly head as they hadn't developed any young talent and many of the players who contributed to the solid 2001-2003 teams were over the hill.

They may have sucked at player development but what did signing free agents have to do with that, unless you think they traded away prospects that were blocked by them?

[Sexymarinersfan]

I don't get what the author was trying to convey? Is he trying to slam Ichiro for winning the award? I mean all three guys that he says should have won the award were juiced up on steroids. Ichiro is hands down my favorite player of all time. And 2001 was indeed a very special season. But to slam a guy so hard just for the sake of it 20 years later feels a little out of left field if you will. Reading that felt like a scenario of a guy who didn't get enough attention as a kid.

[SeattleSportsRUs]

Another thing, I think the 2001 Mariners was the team that set up the Mariners to fail for the next 2 decades. In order to maintain hype built up from the mid-to-late 90's, they bucked the entire philosophy of player development and simply paid for a bunch of solid free agents for short-term success. 2004 it reared its ugly head as they hadn't developed any young talent and many of the players who contributed to the solid 2001-2003 teams were over the hill.

They may have sucked at player development but what did signing free agents have to do with that, unless you think they traded away prospects that were blocked by them?

I think it says a lot when your entire starting roster of position players is at least 30 years old and averages 33.4 years of age. The majority of time, that's not a good thing. It means you haven't done a good enough job developing young talent playing in congruence with your veteran players. It's also why the 2005 roster had such massive turnover.

[D-train]

For 2001 I would have gone Boone/Giambi/Ichiro, but Ichiro was such a big story and as was pointed out Boone and Giambi juiced their way to the top, so I'd give the writers a pass on that one.

On the other hand, Ichiro should have won in 2004 when he got 262 hits, batted .372, and his 9.2 WAR was by far the best in the AL. MVP winner Vladimir Guerrero's was 5.6

We lost 99 games. Ichiro always performed best when the games didn't matter and pretty much sucked in the clutch.

2004 clutch:



2004 team:



Ichiro had his short comings. But I'm not sure he's to blame for the 2004 M's losing 99. He might have had 300 hits on an above average hitting team.

Another thing, I think the 2001 Mariners was the team that set up the Mariners to fail for the next 2 decades. In order to maintain hype built up from the mid-to-late 90's, they bucked the entire philosophy of player development and simply paid for a bunch of solid free agents for short-term success. 2004 it reared its ugly head as they hadn't developed any young talent and many of the players who contributed to the solid 2001-2003 teams were over the hill. They then tried to fix the damage with duct tape by signing Sexson and Beltre and the domino effect was on.

That is clutch within a game. Problem is that we were completely out of it by early May so about 130 of the games that season were completely meaningless.

[D-train]

I don't get what the author was trying to convey? Is he trying to slam Ichiro for winning the award? I mean all three guys that he says should have won the award were juiced up on steroids. Ichiro is hands down my favorite player of all time. And 2001 was indeed a very special season. But to slam a guy so hard just for the sake of it 20 years later feels a little out of left field if you will. Reading that felt like a scenario of a guy who didn't get enough attention as a kid.

Yeah, I agree the timing was odd. Maybe the 20 year anniversary aspect of it.