MARLINS TO SIGN A 'BIG FISH'

There's irony here.  Not 4 hours after I was able to finally watch the old Tim Burton film Big Fish, the Marlins appear to have signed Ichiro Suzuki.

According toe Craig Mish, there is an agreement on terms:

Hearing Ichiro Suzuki and @Marlins have agreed to terms.
— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) January 23, 2015

According to ESPN, "Ichiro Suzuki is close to agreement on a one-year contract with the Miami Marlins, a baseball source confirmed to ESPN.com Friday...Although the two sides are still working through some final details before the deal becomes official, Suzuki is expected to earn a base salary of about $2 million in 2015."

At this point, it's just about them getting the deal done and there's no reason to think it won't get done.  Which brings me to the sadness of parting with Ichiro.  Bottom line, I understand the Yankees need to get younger, but letting a solid hitter like Ichiro go, even for a bench player, is just ridiculous.  You have to realize that the Yankees blew this big time. Ichiro was a big catch for not only the team, but for their marketing.

Think about this; they signed Alex Rodriguez to eventually become the all-time home run leader, bringing the crown back to New York. Of course, they didn't realize he would shit the bed. In the end, PEDs and bad decisons happened. The End.

But here's my point; the Yanks had a guy like Ichiro who would have probably signed. He was dependable, willing and able to play hard, most likely as a bench player and most likely would be able to get 2 years and maybe $4 million dollar deal with the Yankees. In return, the Yankees get hits and a solid contribution from Ichiro, but also market him with 3000 hits as a New York Yankee.  I don't get it their thinking on this one... and I'll never get it.  The Marlins got a big fish in Ichiro.  He will definitely be productive, no question about it.


Which brings me to Big Fish, a Tim Burton sci-fi film that's really quite good. A kid who grows up into a young adult and thinks that many of the stories his father told him in his life were B.S. As the father starts to die, the son tries to get some closure and "investigate" his father and his outlandish stories, only to realize that much of it was true, but some was fantasy. And in the end, the father was exactly what he wanted to be, the legend he made himself into throughout years of story telling.  He was that big fish.

Ichiro is too. But I tell the stories.  I remember the memories and I will continue to talk about him fondly.

Make no bones about it.  He will do good things for the Marlins... and I'm thrilled for him.

I'm an Ichiro fan. I always will be. Good luck old friend. Continue to do great things.

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