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No air more refreshing than what you breathe the first time you open your windows in the spring. The stale air that has stagnated over the late fall, winter, and early spring is dissipated, and fresh winds blow through the house.
That is what Eric Wedge is doing to atmosphere of the Seattle Mariners. He is doing in the clubhouse what Jack is doing in the front office. And both are most refreshing.
The notion that Ichiro cannot ever be written out of the lineup for a rest, even when he hits like Figgins for two months, is ridiculous. The notion that anyone who suggests this is showing disrespect to his honor suggests to me that his honor, his position with this franchise, has gotten much TOO honorable.
I don't know if the rest will help or not. But at least he's reinforced the precedent he's been setting that PT must be earned, even by established vets. Wedge has bent over backward to allow Ichiro time to work out of his funk Ichiro's way. Now it's time for Wedge to play his proper role as manager and shake the status quo up. Again.
Baker and you, Doc, make the essential point here too, that the "some are more equal than others" mindset, while it may of necessity hold sway above Wedge's pay grade due to the nature of the ownership, cannot be allowed to prevent the establishment in the clubhouse of the ethic necessary to Jack's rebuild, earned PT replaces entitled PT.
Ichiro has earned our everlasting respect by his production over his Mariners career. He has earned an enforced day off by his play over the last two months.