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the lower stolen base total last year had little to do with who was batting behind Ichiro (Russell Branyan and Franklin Gutierrez, who both ran high pitch counts last year, accounted for 638 of the 2/3 lineup spot PAs, compared to 568 from Lopez and Beltre).  I think it had more to do with the calf strain he suffered in late August (an injury I think he had been playing with as his SB Rate for the 2009 is the 2nd worst of his career).  In September, he only attempted to steal a base 6.7% of the time, compared to 16.5% the rest of the season (these are lmost certainly low I simply added hits/walks/hbps and subtracted HRs and triples, so I don't account for runner on situations, but I think they're accurate enough for the example). 
That's not to say that having a batter up who fouls off a lot of pitches isn't annoying for a runner, but I think the low steal / low success rate of 2009 had more to do with Ichiro's leg strain (and perhaps his bleeding ulcer) than with bad swings from Adrian Beltre and Jose Lopez.  I mean, it's not as if Ichiro knows what will and won't be a strike before the pitcher throws it, so the fact that Lopez and Beltre (who only had 150 PAs in the 2/3 spot by the way) swung at sliders away really shouldn't have had much affect.  Consider all the times both players missed said pitch and made it all the more difficult for the catcher to deliver a throw.  Honestly, the best batter to put behind Ichiro, in terms of giving him opportunities to steal, would be a batter that hits a low percentage of pitches he swings at, and doesn't swing at balls.  Oh wait, Russell Branyan got 251 PAs in the 2 spot in '09.
As far as Figgins chances to bounce back next year, he did have the 2nd lowest BABiP of his career this year.