SURPRISE, Ariz. --- Talked to Ichiro the other day at Mariners camp, and I'm pretty sure I could cover baseball for 50 more years and never again interview a big league ballplayer while he bends his leg so that his right foot is at his waist on the left side of his body.
Ichiro's an interesting dude. There are some people who say he knows a lot more English than he lets on, but prefers to maintain a translator either for clarification or to have a buffer for possible interviews.
Either way, he's really sharp, and funny. Among other things, he called Jose Guillen (a good friend) "cute."
Ichiro, you might remember, dropped these classic quotes last year:
* “To tell the truth, I’m not excited to go to Cleveland, but we have to. If I ever saw myself saying I’m excited going to Cleveland, I’d punch myself in the face, because I’m lying.”
and:
* “The ball became the same color as the sky. So, I wasn’t able to see it…I was sending mental signals for the ball not to come my way, because during that time of day it’s impossible for me to see the ball so I lacked mental signals. I lacked in that area. Usually, I don’t send mental signals. So, because this is the first time, I thought, please don’t come my way.”
Ichiro's hair is now a salt-n-pepper mix, a reminder that his years of being one of baseball's top players are limited. There is a deep and incredibly exciting pool of young stars in baseball right now, from Hanley Ramirez to Jose Reyes to Prince Fielder and at least a dozen others. But it's hard to imagine another Ichiro coming along.
The Mariners, by the way, should have a pretty nice team this year. I know a lot of people think the uber-talented Adam Jones (and others) was too much to give up for Erik Bedard, but Seattle's rotation shapes up as one of the best in the league. Bedard and Felix Hernandez are potentially the best 1-2 combination this side of Sabathia-Carmona, and are backed up by the overpriced-but-reliable Carlos Silva, Jarrod Washburn and Miguel Batista. Besides a strong top, that rotation gains ground on others by having five solid big leaguers. There's no fledgling prospect at the back end.
Two other things that stood out from Mariners camp. Bill Bavasi dressed in jeans and an untucked collared shirt, making it the first time I've talked to a GM in person who wasn't outdressing me. Bavasi's one of the most approachable and easy to talk to GMs in the game, by the way. The other thing that stood out was how much love the guys in that clubhouse have for Guillen and Meche. JJ Putz, Raul Ibanez and Ichiro each made a point to ask I tell one or both of the Mariners-turned-Royals hi, in addition to telling good stories about them.
A few housecleaning things from reading the comments section:
* To dpruente, my anonymous sources have confirmed that Kit Pellow and Michael Tucker are nowhere to be found. The Pulitzer committee has my address.
* To Jeff, I would love to post pictures and videos here. But the thing you need to remember is that I'm an idiot. I don't know how to do that stuff. But luckily for both of us, the paper has photographer John Sleezer and videographer Mike Ransdell down here. Mike's been doing two or three videos per day on the Star's website, including a really good one with Sweeney mic'd up during A's camp.
As for your other points, it's really hard to tell much about how anybody's doing until the games start, and anybody who gives you more than the most superficial analysis at this point is either a professional scout or making stuff up. I'll do my best to provide you guys with solid insight, and please keep in mind my intention is for this blog to serve as a complement to what we have in the paper, not a replacement.
Back this afternoon with some advice on hanging out at spring training, but for now, on with the links:
* Joe Sheehan at Baseball Prospectus makes the case for signing Barry Bonds. The legal issues cloud things, obviously, but I do have to say I'm a little surprised nobody's picked him up.
* As a veteran baseball writer asked the other day, has Kyle Lohse priced himself out of the market?
* Dave Sheinen, one of the best writers around, takes an interesting look at Mike Bacsik, otherwise known as the-guy-who-gave-up-Bonds'-homer.
* Ball Star favorite Bill James writes on Craig Biggio for Slate.com.
* Francisco Liriano is reportedly in Florida today and expected at Twins camp tomorrow. Within this La Velle Neal blog is word that Liriano has hit 97 on the radar gun and is consistently at 92-95, showing that his arm strength is back. I'm not as optimistic about some regarding Liriano's prospects this season. Seems to me it's the *second* year after these major surgeries before guys approach what they were before the injury.
* Bret Boone looks in great shape in Nationals camp and cops to an alcohol problem that may have led to him walking away from the game a few years back. I always respect people willing to admit their mistakes, especially publicly like that. Can't be an easy thing to do.
* Don't you get the feeling that Roger Clemens is in over his head, that when the Mitchell Report came out he had no idea it would go this far?
Three non-baseball links:
* Props to Extra Mustard for pointing us to this outstanding website where you can play a different Nintendo game every day for free. If the boss is reading, I'll never spend any time on this website. And actually, that might be true because I still have an old-school 8-bit at the Ball Star mansion, complete with Tecmo Bowl and Double Dribble. Yes, I know I'm a loser.
* Classic picture of a college kid getting caught looking at the eclipse. I think Erin Andrews does a fine enough job, and I see what everyone else sees in her, but I gotta say I can't look at her the same or take her as seriously since I saw her exchange cheek kisses with David Wells in the Padres clubhouse last year.
* Kansas City folks might be interested in this interview with Tony Gonzalez. Among other things, he says he cried at "The Notebook," says the Chiefs are a high school garage band, and wants women to keep "low mileage." Awesome. Warning: there's a snippet of adult language.
Double Dribble? C'mon!! Arch Rivals was the best nintendo basketball game...hands down!!