Although he is drawing interest from other teams around the league, Ichiro Suzuki prefers to re-sign with the Yankees according to his agent Tony Attanasio. Attanasio told George A. King III of The New York Post that his client is willing to wait to see if New York wants him back after working out new contracts with Mariano Rivera and potentially Andy Pettitte.
"They are going after pitching first which is what the Yankees normally do," said Attanasio. "There has been a lot of interest [from teams], but he enjoyed playing for the Yankees so much it’s hard for him to say no to the Yankees. His preference is to stay there instead of going someplace else, but we will wait and see."
Ichiro, 39, hit .283/.307/.390 in 663 plate appearances last season, but put up a .322/.340/.454 batting line in 240 plate appearances with the Yankees following the trade. He also agreed to move from right field to left and bat near the bottom of the order. King says if the Yankees want Ichiro back, he would have to agree to a one-year contract with a pay cut from the $17MM he made in 2012.
The Giants and White Sox were among the teams with interest in Ichiro prior to the trade deadline, and earlier this month we heard the Yankees have some interest in bringing him back as a replacement for Nick Swisher. Tim Dierkes ranked the long-time Mariner as the 40th best free agent on his Top 50 Free Agents List, predicting he would sign with the Rays.
