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For me, loving Ichiro on the teams we've fielded the last 7 years is how I would imagine it would be loving Mariano Rivera if he were taking up 15% of our salary allowance.
 
Is he amazing?  Absolutely.
 
Is he a HOFer?  I can't see how he wouldn't be.
 
Is he the missing piece on these teams?  No.
 
Does he need other players to make him fully effective?  Yes.
 
Players who hit themselves in are more helpful to offensively challenged teams.  Much like a closer needs the guys who get into the game before him to do their jobs so he can take the ball and win the game, so too does Ichiro need the other players to do more than ground weakly to second or his skillset is not optimal. 
 
Ichiro is wasted on this team.  And that means he is getting judged on the things he doesn't do (walk, hit HRs, drive in 150) instead of what he does, because if we were spending his $17 million a season on a HOF power hitter instead we wouldn't be in this mess - or so the theory goes.
 
It doesn't affect how much I appreciate him as a player...but I'll admit, it does affect how I feel about team flexibility and improvement options.
 
If you used a crystal ball and told me I could swap Ichiro's salary to NY and that I would be guaranteed to roll those funds into a masher like Gonzalez or Fielder, I'd do it.
 
Figgins and Ackley hitting one-two with Fielder knocking them in works far better for me than Ichiro and Figgins hitting one-two with no one knocking them in.
 
And I don't consider that a slam on Ichiro and his greatness - just an acknowledgment that our offense as currently constructed is completely incapable of doing anything useful with Ichiro's contributions.  He's scored 35 runs this year.  Thirty five.
 
Hall of Famer or not, this is not an offense Ichiro can lift.  Ichiro can make a good offense great, but a bad offense is left to flounder for itself.  He can't fix it.
 
So I feel much like I would if I was watching Rivera cool his heels in the pen while we squander a lead before the 8th.  It's not Ichiro's fault we don't have a team built to take advantage of him, but I don't know if I can GET a team that can while paying him what we are.
 
It's a catch-22.  Since ownership will never trade him, I understand that he's on the team to stay and I'll enjoy watching him play.  But watching us lose in so many pathetic ways takes some of the shine off of his greatness.  It just does.  It's not his fault that he's our only capable bat at this point, but deep inside I probably blame him anyway.
 
It's not easy being great.
 
~G