Trade Ichiro; Keep Raul Ibanez

First of all, in the strictest sense, “intangible” means anything that cannot be perceived through the sense of touch, so any skill or ability could really be considered intangible (I can’t touch superior hand-eye coordination, can I?); second of all, BLARGH!!!!!!!!

If they wanted nobody to show up to watch the team that is.

Really, you can lump Baker’s comments with that article from Heyman at SI a few days ago.

I disagree with their reasoning on why the M’s should trade Ichiro. As the face of a franchise that absolute sucks, Ichiro is being scapegoated for all that ails the M’s. Ichiro is the least of the M’s worries right now.

However, I do have to agree with both that putting Ichiro on the trade block now is a really good idea. Why:

1) Baker is correct that this club is on the precipice of a major rebuild. The team has major problems all over their roster that can’t be fixed by adding a new DH and 1B. As a club, they don’t get on base, don’t hit for power, don’t play good defense sucks, and the starting pitching is bad beyond Felix and Bedard. The only part of the roster that isn’t terrible in the bullpen. And there isn’t much help waiting in the wings at Tacoma. This club is not a few pieces away from contending.

2) Ichiro has a lot of trade value. He is a good player and a huge box office draw. Moving Ichiro now would likely net the M’s a nice package of talent. If the M’s want to help their club improve, they need to bring in young talent. You are only going to get that by moving talent. If they trade Ichiro, Bedard, and Putz, they could totally change the long-term fortunes of this organization.

3) The ‘filling seats’ argument is weak. If this team keeps losing, it won’t matter if Ichiro is on the club. They need to build a consistent winning club. I think everyone on this blog in agreement in hoping for someone like Jed Hoyer, Chris Antonetti, or David Forst as the next GM. All three are the types of GMs who would consider moving Ichiro, as they should. Fan sentiment and selling tickets are important, but they shouldn’t be the determining factors in roster decision making. Focus on building a healthy club first, then let the marketing division of the organization focus on Clement, Morrow, and Felix as the faces of the franchise.

4) The other weak argument against blowing up the club is that it would doom us to a long-term run of losing. But I don’t think that is the case at all. The Rangers restocked their farm system by trading Mark Teixeira AND improved dramatically this year. The Marlin’s have done the same thing. The A’s have the balls to deal good players for prospects, and they are contending this year. I think that the M’s could win MORE games in 2009 if they make a few smart deadline deals. But you have to sack to deal fan favorites.

Right now, the M’s roster is a complete train wreck. It is pretty clear that Washurn, Batista, and Silva are available. But those guys are not good players. The best you can hope for is getting their contracts from the books. They need to take advantage of their situation as sellers and set this club up for long-term success. To do that, they should be shopping around Bedard, Ichiro, and Putz. Hopefully, all three will be healthy and playing at a high level over the next month and increase their trade value. The M’s don’t have to move any of them, and can always hold off until the offseason, or keep all three if they don’t get a legit offer. But, given their position, refusing to trade these guys would be really really stupid.

Bedard is on the block. They are going to be looking to deal Batista, Washburn, Silva, and Johjima. They have a lot of big contracts they need to move, and now is the time to do it. Since we are looking

There has been lots of talk about how the M’s would never trade Ichiro because of the Japanese ownership and his relationship with Yamauchi. Really, this conversation hasn’t focused much on SHOULD the M’s trade Ichiro, but IF it is even remotely possible they would even consider it.

My question is: isn’t that racism?

In any other industry, being Japanese would not be enough for someone to get a job. It is pretty clear that the club values Japanese players, especially reflected in the idiotic extension of Johjima’s contract. If a team were to favor white players, or even American players, over other ethnic groups, I would imagine there would be a public backlash.

Actually, extreme nationalism (you could argue racism) are really common in Japanese baseball. I remember hearing about how Sadahuro Oh had pitchers on a team he was managing not throw hittable pitches to three foreign players who were threatening his home run record, mainly on the grounds that the record should be Japanese. I also read that a lot of teams passed up Yu Darvish in the draft because he is of partial Iranian descent (although he spent his life in Japan).

I guess that there is a fine line between wanting to keep a Japanese icon for business reasons (Ichiro makes them money and keeps the team popular with Japanese fans) and outright racism (a Japanese owner interfering with roster decisions to keep Japanese players with the club).

What do you guys think about this?

However, he manages to ground himself to reality.