Clicked on the link immediately, before I read the rest of the article, and noticed two things you touched upon. (I didn't notice the wider stance right away)
1. There is much more wrap of the bat.
2. He still has lots of head movment through the hitting zone.
I suspect #2 still exists because Ichiro has spent a (incredibly productive) lifetime driving into the ball, head, shoulders and all. When he got pitches in, and when he could just explode the hips and not drive his upper body into the ball, then he creamed it. Otherwise, he (p)laced it.
The wider stance and greater wrap will allow for greater explosion, but I'm not sure what the head movement will do to counteract that.
If Ichiro were a golfer he would have been Lee Trevino, a "wiper" of the ball with lots of movement, but one of the handful of greaest ball-strikers ever. His new move isn't Bubba Watson, but it has moved away from Trevino, too.
If he makes it work and rebounds with ferocity we should all take it as a sign of just what an incredible talent we've had he pleasure to watch.
moe
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