Posted by sgsmith on 5/6/2011 6:39:00 PM (view original):
Posted by newarkwilder on 5/6/2011 9:14:00 AM (view original):
can't imagine what karma thinks about an Ichiro!-less Mariners team.
Well, I'm new around here, so I can't say for sure, but a quick check of the forum shows that this will be the 3rd straight year the M's have been without him. shaybee protected him in the first 5 in Leg 29, then didn't protect him and lost him in Leg 30 -- then went on to set the Mariners Rule V record with 97 wins. specsman was (Leg 31) and I am just tyring to duplicate that success, I guess.
I may have commented previously on the topic of Ichiro. Living in the Seattle area, I find him to be the most interesting & entertaining player I've ever seen live. The things he does at the plate and in the field are frequently breathtaking. Both of my boys love him, and between them, I think we have about 5 different #51 jerseys floating around the house.
That said, in WIS he pretty much stinks for his pricetag (and even when taking his salary out of the equation at this cap.) On the team where I did use him, my OF was Griffey, Ichiro, and Fred Lynn and I think the team finished about .500. The following year that I managed to win 97 games (and lose in the first round of the playoffs - which I'm very good at doing), I had Griffey, Kevin Mitchell, and Randy Winn(!) in the OF. Now, the biggest difference between those two legs was my bullpen - the first year I think I had 3-4 pitchers stolen in the draft, so I was forced to use the likes of Jarrod Washburn and Mike Schooler instead of Putz, Charlton, Soriano, Pineiro, etc. Still, Winn's numbers were pretty much identical to Ichiro's...