Set Him Free! Why the Mariners Need to Trade Ichiro

When Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik asked the Seattle fans to be patient with the rebuilding process, I decided to comply with his request. I vowed to sit back and wait to see if the Mariners showed any progress with hopes that things would be different this season.

When Seattle started out 2-0 I was optimistic the ball club was on the right path. Since then the Mariners are 2-10 and still can't score any runs. Same old story.

The one player I feel sorry for in this whole situation is Ichiro Suzuki. He deserves a better fate.

It's an unwritten rule in professional sport that you don't let superstars rot on the vine. You don't let them waste their talents in no-win scenarios toiling away in anonymity. In short, you send them to a playoff contender so they can show the world what they are capable of and give them a chance to win a championship.

The Mariners aren't going to get better any time soon and by the time the team is respectable Ichiro will be old and his skills will have diminished.

From a selfish perspective I don't want Ichiro to leave, but as a true fan it pains me to see this great player playing for a garbage team. 10 straight Gold Gloves, 10 straight All-Star appearances, and 10 straight 200-plus hit seasons are accomplishments that shouldn't be wasted on a team that loses 100 games a season.

The honorable thing to do is trade Ichiro at the trade deadline for players that will become stars in a few years. If the plan is to build for the future what better way to do it than trade your Hall of Fame right fielder while he still has tremendous trade value? That's what I would do. Let's see what Jack's plans are.