Miami Marlins Season Review: Ichiro Suzuki

Ichiro Suzuki.

The name you know as the legendary Mariners player, who got traded to the Yankees, while the Mariners and the Yankees were playing each other. The guy who won a Rookie Of The Year and a MVP in the same year. The best international position player of all time.

He’s a Hall of Famer and he’s also a Miami Marlin, but he’s not his old self.

Last year, the Miami Marlins brought the legend in to play the 4th outfielder role, but it was barely that. After injuries to Giancarlo Stanton and the demotion of Marcel Ozuna, Ichiro found himself playing everyday. And it was ugly. Real ugly.

Obviously at 42 years old, Ichiro wasn’t going to be his old self, but the Marlins hoped to get at least something.

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Ichiro finished the season with a -0.8 WAR, his lowest of his career. He also slated a .50 ISO, that too his lowest of his career. His regular slash was .229/.282/.279..…Yes that was also the worst slash he’s had in his career.

As a baseball fan, it was sad to see Ichiro play like this. Living on a .257 BABIP, it was tough to see a legend fold before our eyes. The best thing Ichiro did last year is his very respectful 3.13 FIP.

Ichiro on defense was solid. In right field at least. He had a 8.6 UZR and a defensive of 5.8 in right field. He was good in the corners but not good in center but you shouldn’t expect him to be good out there because, well, he is 42 years old.

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The biggest problem with that, is why the Marlins’ management insisted on putting Ichiro Suzuki out there in center field.

In the most Marlins move ever, the Miami Marlins brought him back for the 2016 season. Bringing him back shows the Marlins are still not there fully even though they are developing an analytics department, that we’ve begged for.

Yes, I know he is chasing three thousand hits. Yes, I know it would be cool to see him to do it in South Florida but the Marlins should not have brought him back.

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You need the best 25 men on your roster that give you a chance. With lack of depth in the minor leagues and Giancarlo Stanton being injury prone. you can’t expect Ichiro to come in there and even give 10% of the production Stanton would. We all love Ichiro. We all wish it was 2004, but it is not.

Ichiro was bad in 2015 and is likely to be bad in 2016.