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Looking at Ichiro's Slugging %...there is no trend:
.457
.425
.436
.455
.436
.416
.431
.386
Other than an anomalously low 2008 figure, Ichiro's been a .430 SLG player +/- 20. There are only so many bases in Ichiro's bat per year. He can either try to hit for power (and succeed to some extent but accept a lower BA) or he can try to hit for average and accept lower IsoP. You know why? It's not just the GB%...it's also the left/right hit scatter. Ichiro's career batting average on non-groundballs to left field (I went into my PBP database for this fun fact...took a while to figure out the query that would give me the answer I wanted) going into 2008 was (wait for it)...
.191
When he does not hit it into the ground and goes the other way with it...it's an auto-out. Literally. A buck ninety one!
Whewn he hits a non-groundball to right field...that BA is .309 (LOL)
That's about as extreme a split as you'll ever see.
When he tries for power, it is harder to time his swing and he hits more fly balls to left field (auto-out). When he tries for singles, he gets to wait back on pitches a little bit longer and still get good results (if you get fooled while you're muscling up for power, you're going to hit a fly ball...Ichiro SUCKS when he hits fly balls).
He had a bad 2008 season but I think a lot of that was bad luck on balls in play (by Ichiro's standards).
I think he still remains the same .330/.380/.430 player he's always been.