Ichiro Suzuki joined the 3000-hit club today, as the Marlins outfielder collected his milestone hit in the form of a seventh-inning triple during Miami’s 10-7 win over the Rockies. Suzuki became the 30th player in MLB history to collect 3000 hits, though of course, Ichiro is now up to 4278 career hits counting his storied career in Japan. At age 42, Ichiro has shown no inclination to retire, so he should be able to climb several more steps up the all-time hit leaderboard before he finally hangs up the cleats. Congratulations to one of baseball’s legends as we check out some notes from around the NL East…
- The Marlins have yet to make Martin Prado a contract offer but they’re expected to do so after the season, a team source tells Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. The 32-year-old has hit well in his walk year, carrying a .318/.372/.422 slash line over 452 plate appearances into today’s action. Prado has long been regarded as a clubhouse leader in Miami and he has also won the respect of Don Mattingly in the skipper’s first season running the Marlins. If Prado leaves in free agency, the Marlins do have a ready-made internal replacement for third base in Derek Dietrich.
- The Mets have yet to approach Neil Walker about a new contract, the free agent second baseman tells Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News, though Walker is quite open to remaining with the team. “When I say I am excited about the future here, I don’t just mean what I think we can still do this season,” Walker said. “I like the players we have here, I like what I think we are building for this season and for years to come. I’d like to be a part of it, yeah.” A team source tells Ackert that the Mets will “make a good run” at re-signing Walker, and GM Sandy Alderson said earlier this week that the club would talk to Walker, especially given how Dilson Herrera’s trade shakes up the Mets’ middle infield plans. Ackert, for her part, believes re-signing Walker would bring some much-needed stability to a Mets infield that has big injury question marks in David Wright and Lucas Duda.
- Hector Neris and Edubray Ramos will see a lot of action over the last two months of the season and the relievers could be trade chips for the Phillies this winter, Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes. The Phils scored one major trade haul for Ken Giles last winter, and if Neris and/or Ramos both continue their impressive performance, they could also bring back a solid return. As Phillies GM Matt Klentak noted about the trade deadline, “the industry is shifting. They’re paying a lot for elite bullpen arms. We learned that a little bit last offseason ourselves, and I think that’s been reinforced through some of the trades this year.”
Congrats Ichiro!
Congrats Ichiro,. When all is said and done Cooperstown will be waiting.
Besides Ichiro ‘s hits total and batting average, many of his other stats (as well as WAR, JAWS and OPS+) do NOT compare well to other rightfielders already in the Hall of Fame. He might not be as much a shoo in as some fans imagine.
Personally I think that his awards and the perception of fans towards him will make him a likely inductee.
i think based on the fact that the golden glove could have been considered the ichiro suzuki award for the decade that he locked it down coupled with the fact that he has 3k hits is enough to easily guarantee HOF honours. There’s only 29 other guys with 3k hits and you’re telling me he might not make it in? nevermind the fielding aspect, someone can DH for their whole career and if they get 3k hits they will be admitted (unless they gambled on baseball or juiced). there’s no way ichiro doesn’t easily make it in.
Yeah his war doesn’t put him close since he is 8th as an active player and 122nd overall. Those pesky AS appearances will probably get in the way too. The gold gloves and rookie of the year and MVP stuff that is just nonsense. He was just a mediocre player that got lucky 3000 times because he didn’t hit a bunch of HRs and all those infield hits those really shouldn’t count because fast people have an unfair advantage. He also played in another league for a long time so that helped him too. Your right he did nothing to belong inn the hall except have one of the better arms in RF get all those hits and play stellar D until the last few years of his career. I hope he signs a one day contract and retires a Mariner it is too bad the team did not keep him.
No where did I say that he probably won’t get in (in fact I said he is a likely inductee). I will say that I am not so sure that some people looked at the stats for rightfielders who are currently already in the Hall of Fame though. It is a very elite group of 24 players.
The average WAR for HoF rightfielders is 73.2. Ichiro is only 59.8 (only 81.7% of average WAR for those already enshrined)
The average JAWS for HoF rightfielders is 58.1. Ichiro is only 51.7 (only 89.% of average JAWS for those already enshrined).
His career OPS+ of 108 would also be very low compared to other Hall of Fame rightfielders.
Look in NO way did I say that he shouldn’t get in, I’m just pointing out that many of his stats do not compare favorably to the quality of the rightfielders already enshrined in the HoF. As I said in my original posts his awards (which include gold gloves, RoY, MVP, silver sluggers, batting titles, all-stars and such) and the perception of the fans towards him make it likely to get in. I’m sorry that some readers obviously missed those very specific comments I made.
See this is how advance stats loses a lot of fans. The fact you can make a case for Ichiro to not make the HoF is crazy.
I still don’t think you can make a case because a few of his stats don’t match up to others. I would bet of the 24 he would be close to the top at his prime in arm strength and accuracy. He was probably one of the fastest so one of the worst metrics UZR would be in his favor. So cherry picking stats to make a case doesn’t work.
Next when he does make the hall are the NY fans going to claim he should wear their hat on his plaque because he played there? Another site I read but don’t comment on had a fan all but claim it.
Actually I couldn’t stop chuckling or SMH long enough until now to reply. He will be in the hall his first year.
And big guys have an advantage hitting home runs.
JAWS WAR OPS etc Here is a stat for you. TGCFP (the Giy Can F@
Ichiro = singles hitter who put himself before team. And I’m a Mariners fan. I think the WAR post above is spot on example.
I think Ichiros stats alone get him in without question but you also take in the fact that with him coming over from a different league paved the way for so many Japanese and Korean players to do the same. That alone made such a huge difference in MLB in the last 10-15 years.
I feel like people here don’t understand how WAR works. It’s a counting statistic like hits. It’s an ongoing total you accumulate from year to year. In the case of Ichiro, he didn’t play in the majors until he was 27, so he is missing years that most MLB players accumulate WAR. This isn’t a great example, but Ichiro has 4200+ hits between Japan and the US, so roughly 29% of his hits came in Japan. If he were to duplicate his numbers in MLB (and I’m not saying he would have), his WAR would roughly be 85 right now, good for 51st overall in the history of MLB. The only retired player with that much who isn’t in the Hall of Fame is Chipper Jones (also with 85) who will likely be inducted in.
Personally I know exactly how WAR works and I also understand the other stats and metrics I stated. I also readily understand that I’m taking a lot of heat because I simply stated facts. I purposely in my first post didn’t explain fully or in depth because I wanted to see if people reacted passionately and emotionally without researching any of the things I said to begin with. My point in doing so (which will be lost on a large percentage of readers) is that if you look at the statistics (not awards) of players objectively sometimes you get a different overall picture than if you look at the statistics of players with emotion, fandom and public perception included. Public perception plays a bigger role in actual voting than many admit. My comparison was specifically to rightfielders who were already in the Hall of Fame. Is it any real shame that Ichiro, deserving as he might be, still falls short in many areas compared to that elite group? If you want to crucify me for pointing out facts, then feel free to go ahead. Is it any wonder that Ichiro falls short in comparison to guys like Babe Ruth, Henry Aaron, Stan Musial, Mel Ott, Roberto Clemente, Al Kaline, and Reggie Jackson? Fine ridicule me for the truth.
Ichiro is definitely a great player, but in truth he is one, that still isn’t flawless. There are extremely few of those players whom have ever graced major league baseball. Even near perfect players like Maddux, Seaver, and Pedro Martinez didn’t make it into the HoF with unanimous votes when NO ONE could really make any argument at all that they didn’t belong. Ichiro has a long list of awards, and in my mind the most significant of any of his accomplishments is the single season hit record. But Ichiro will still probably have more no votes than Maddux, Seaver and Martinez combine. Simply because some voters will look to see how he compares to other current hall of famers in rightfield (his predominate position).
And typenn613 while Ichiro did a ton for baseball relations towards the Asian fanbase, the stats in Japan simply do not count for MLB. They were a fantastic accomplishment but they don’t count. For whatever reason he started his career late they are no more a factor in HoF voting than the seasons missed in war years by many great players of the past or those who tragically lost their ability to play due to health reasons or even death. I am not saying that was in any way what you were arguing, only that some people feel they should (seen enough of that on the internet already).
I apologize if I made some people upset because I pointed out things that weren’t popular, but I have no trouble separating cold hard facts from emotions when I attempt to play devil’s advocate.
You didn’t upset me at all bud! I see where you’re coming from! Honestly, what sucks for him is he spent some years overseas at home. Imagine is career stats here, if he was here the whole time. Everything would be higher but then again, who knows how it would have turned out.
I don’t know who you think is upset outside. You seem annoyed that people are countering your original points, but you’re arguing both sides of the coin, so there is no way not to agree/disagree.
As for your point, you said his WAR doesn’t compare to other places, and named off a half dozen other players he falls short of. You failed to mentioned that all the players you mentioned player 21-23 seasons (outside of Clemente who had 18). I never said Ichiro’s numbers from Japan count at the MLB level. I merely pointed out that if you’re going to use accumulating stats like WAR, you have to acknowledge that Ichiro didn’t play his entire career, never mind his prime here. It isn’t as if Ichiro wasn’t good enough to play here prior to 2001. That said, voters will acknowledge that just as they have in the past for players who were in the service, or players like Sandy Koufax whose careers were shortened due to unfortunate circumstances.
Laughing even harder now because you, like so so so many other anymore want to over analyze every little thing. Baseball is played on the field and based on results in the game. A great many “advanced stats” are speculative and not results. When it comes down to it voters will look at his 10 consecutive years of over 200 hits, 8 consecutive years of over 100 runs, years and years of excellent fielding, 81% life time SB % etc…the only criteria given when voting is…”Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.” Nowhere does it say his WAR must be in line with…etc… He will be in his very first year without a problem.
You don’t keep a guy out of the HoF who will likely finish in the top-20 all time in hits because his WAR isn’t up to par with other people who played his defensive position (an arbitrary restriction to help make your case). You can pretend you’re the only one really looking at the stats, but you’re just ignoring the obvious to try and play devil’s advocate (as you’ve admitted).
I wouldn’t mind seeing Prado come back to Atlanta for a year or two.
Same
I get trading Neris, but why Ramos– he’s a rookie and honestly, we’ll be ready to go next year. Eflin is figuring things out, Nola will be back, Thompson will figure it out and Eickhoff is solid– plus Franco, Odubel, Cesar and Altherr are playing well, Knapp has nothing left to prove in AAA and Alfaro, Crawford and Williams have very little left to prove– Ramos has 6 years of control left, all of which we should be competitive. I would build the bullpen around him and Jimmy Cordero
Trade Nerris & Ramos? They’re cheap solid relievers what are they trading them for? Our 2017 rotation is nothing but young arms. Nola, VV, Eickoff, Eflin, Thompson. (Poss Helickson) We have a young player or have a prospect coming in the next year or 2 at every position. 1b Joseph/Hoskins 2b Kingrey SS Crawford 3b Franco LF Williams CF Herrera/Quinn RF Altherr/Cozens C Rupp/Knapp/Alfaro. The only free agents I can the phillies signing this year are relievers or stop gab platoon type OF/1b
So would Niel Walker play a good third base? If he can and would be willing to, wonder if the Braves would interested.
Ramos and Walker, would be a nice pick up for the Bravos.
The baseball hall of fame criteria is a @$);/%^ joke and everyone knows it, including the baseball writers who govern entry.
Ichiro is a legendary, generational talent, exemplary teammate and perfect gentleman who deserves every accolade he receives.
Burn Cooperstown to the ground if Ichiro is excluded.
I know it is an unwritten rule that a player doesn’t lose his starting role because he was injured. However, I believe the Mets must ignore this rule based on the types of injury suffered by Wright and Duda. Sign Walker and Loney. Play Duda somewhere this winter or spring and if he looks like he has any value trade him. As for Wright give him the same deal ARod received but actually welcome him into the clubhouse to work with young players.
The Mets aren’t going to “arod” wright. I do believe Wright retires on his own after next season if it’s anything like this one. And DO NOT play Duda anywhere else. He is a TERRIBLE outfielder. Don’t you remember when they tried that? Loney should be resigned because he’d be a hell of a backup. We all know Duda isn’t playing 155 games next year.