In regard to the Monday letter that called out Ichiro Suzuki as not being much of a team player (“Team needs to get past Ichiro era“):

When Ichiro signed his contract extension back in 2007 he could have signed with

any team in Major League Baseall. He chose to stay in Seattle, and in doing so turned down several lucrative offers.

The Mariners have been consistently horrible for the last decade, so for a player to choose a team that has shown limited potential and abysmal team management, and pass up better career offers to stay with the same team, not only shows great character, but amazing team loyalty. The added bonus is that he doesn’t bring the drama and baggage of other well-known players like Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds etc. He’s a class act.

The writer bashes him for not crashing into a wall or diving after balls, and again I’m going to disagree with him on this as well. Ichiro is arguably the best right fielder the Mariners have had in their 30-plus seasons, and has made a countless number of outstanding plays from that position. The letter makes it sound as if his streak of 200 hits in a season is pure luck, and I would call it unbridled talent and dedication to the game.

The other night I counted four guys in the lineup with a batting average of below .200. Our DH can’t hit. They can’t drive in runs with runners in scoring position. And you think Ichiro is the big problem here? He has a career .330 batting average, which puts him in the top 30 of all time. He’s OK in my book.

Brian R. Johnson
Lake Stevens