ANYONE WOULD BE LUCKY TO HAVE ICHIRO

Wally Matthews of ESPN had a piece about Ichiro Suzuki and retirement... or not retiring if you read Ichiro's comments:

"'Retirement from baseball is something I haven’t even thought about,' he said.  

Asked how many more seasons he thought he could play, Ichiro laughed. 'Not just a few,' he said. 'Many. For me, I feel there’s no reason for me to retire right now.' 

At some point this season, this could cause a problem for Girardi because although Ichiro says he will accept any role the Yankees give him, it is going to be very difficult for this proud and accomplished hitter to live the life of a bench player. 

'I don’t know how I’m going to feel once the season starts,' he admitted. 'I don’t know what it’s going to be like. But right now, it doesn’t change the way I prepare myself throughout the spring.'"

I am a huge Ichiro fan and have been since he came to America.  I love the way he approaches the game and it's never changed since the day he showed up.  He's simply one of baseball's best.

Look, right now Ichiro has 2742 hits since being in the Major Leagues. If you think 3000 in the United States isn't on his mind, you would be nuts.  Sure, overall, he has a total, US and Japan combined, 4020... and that's huge, but for Hall of Fame consideration... 3000 is the number and I believe if he gets that, he can and will go into the Hall.  Ichiro knows that too and teams after the Yankees, whomever they are should snatch him up and let him do his thing.  It's great for him, it's great for baseball and it's amazing advertising for any team that signs the guy in anticipation of 3000 hits. Plus, and I know I'll get blowback for this... Ichiro can still play whether you believe it or not.  He still can play the outfield and he can still be a leadoff or number 9 guy.  Plus, even though he's a singles hitter at this point, doesn't that help a club in need of scoring runs to win a ballgame? My point is Ichiro is still valuable... even after the New York Yankees.

I love that Ichiro isn't thinking about retirement.  I'll keep rooting for the guy because I'll always root someone who believes in himself.  You can't go wrong with that... you can't go wrong with Ichiro...

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