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Some guy named Reid Forgrave has posted a boiler plate article on FoxSports.com about Ichiro. I say boiler plate because of things like this in the opening [emphasis mine]:
"But perhaps the most interesting story in the 2012 AL West will happen more quietly, on the often-forgotten Seattle Mariners, who lost 95 games last year and finished 29 games out of first place, and who enter this season with little hope of improvement.
And that storyline is this: Will 2012 mark the continued decline of one of the greatest pure hitters of our time, Ichiro Suzuki, a man whose astounding career has been wasted on a mostly moribund team?"
I'm not sure Ichiro's career has been "wasted". Many players, even in these days of free agency and lots of movement, play well for a long time on teams that aren't in the post-season each year. I guess thrilling Seattle fans doesn't count for much.
The remainder of the article is a singularly uninformed look at last season's decline and the prospects for this season, ending with:
"If this is the end of the road for Ichiro, we must take a step back and appreciate Ichiro for what he is: One of the finest hitters of our time, a man who ought to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, yet a player whose whole ultimately ended up being less than the sum of his parts."
Thank you, SSI and MC for a more informed and nuanced look.
NBC's Hardball Talk, in a short on Pineda's velocity today, had it right about the mainstream sites:
"part of our job here is to keep you apprised of not just the truly important stuff, but the stuff all your idiot coworkers and talk radio and stuff are ranting about..."