Ichiro didn't deserve the 2001 MVP

[D-train]

What pisses me off is when anyone doesn't think Ichiro the greatest of all time then its because they are racist.

[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?

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.

True, but if Gillick had signed some younger and less talented free agents the team would have been lucky to make the playoffs at all and still would have ended up stinking once those players fell off. The problem was that they were failing in the draft (along with Latin American scouting) and developing players in the minors. To me, what the M's accomplished in the 2000-01 seasons made it worthwhile to sign those older players.

[D-train]

Over a decade of absolute craptastic drafting other than Jones who put up the 32 WAR for the O's.

draft.JPG (65.7 KiB) Viewed 1286 times

[SeattleSportsRUs]

What pisses me off is when anyone doesn't think Ichiro the greatest of all time then its because they are racist.

I don't think Ichiro is the greatest of all time. But I also don't think it's fair to judge Ichiro's total numbers on 10 years of "who knows why teams were giving him a spot on their roster" baseball. Maybe it was to sell tickets by promoting a former all-world player who was well out of his prime? Seems to be the case and he should have retired sooner - he's at fault for that and his career numbers suffer as a result.

That said, he was already a long-established pro when he joined the majors at age 27. By his age 37 season (typically when players are well over the hill) Ichiro had around a .331/.376/.430/.806 career slash with 10 All Star appearances, 10 Gold Gloves, and 3 Silver Sluggers. I'm not really sure how you can hate a player who is that productive for your team.

[Sexymarinersfan]

Over a decade of absolute craptastic drafting other than Jones who put up the 32 WAR for the O's.

draft.JPG

So far Jerry has had 3 draft picks make the Majors so far. Not bad, but I'm waiting for that marquee player that's the face of the franchise. Julio? Ford?

[D-train]

Morrow only put 2.2 WAR and Thorton 0.4 WAR for us so not a single 1st round pick managed 10 WAR in all that time.

[D-train]

Over a decade of absolute craptastic drafting other than Jones who put up the 32 WAR for the O's.

draft.JPG

So far Jerry has had 3 draft picks make the Majors so far. Not bad, but I'm waiting for that marquee player that's the face of the franchise. Julio? Ford?

I still think Gilbert will be an AS. Maybe even in 2022.

[D-train]

What pisses me off is when anyone doesn't think Ichiro the greatest of all time then its because they are racist.

I don't think Ichiro is the greatest of all time. But I also don't think it's fair to judge Ichiro's total numbers on 10 years of "who knows why teams were giving him a spot on their roster" baseball. Maybe it was to sell tickets by promoting a former all-world player who was well out of his prime? Seems to be the case and he should have retired sooner - he's at fault for that and his career numbers suffer as a result.

That said, he was already a long-established pro when he joined the majors at age 27. By his age 37 season (typically when players are well over the hill) Ichiro had around a .331/.376/.430/.806 career slash with 10 All Star appearances, 10 Gold Gloves, and 3 Silver Sluggers. I'm not really sure how you can hate a player who is that productive for your team.

Yeah I don't hate him so....

[D-train]

I actually think he is a fascinating guy and loved his book of quotes. He is a great philosopher and a unique deep thinker. Very rare in pro sports.

[D-train]

Here are a few of his quotes.

https://www.inspiringquotes.us/author/1 ... iro-suzuki