The Seattle Mariners Traded Ichiro

It was some Friday afternoon over the offseason that, out of nowhere, word emerged that the Mariners were trading Michael Pineda to the Yankees for Jesus Montero in a package. There were no whispers or rumors prior to the news breaking, although it made sense that the Mariners would have Pineda available, and it made sense that the Yankees would have Montero available.

This is kind of like that only not at all like that. Today the Mariners traded Ichiro Suzuki. To the Yankees, for two players. There's cash involved, and so many other things involved to. There were no whispers, no rumors. There wasn't any chatter at all. Ryan Dempster was said to be on the move to the Braves, the Marlins and Tigers swung a huge trade, and then right in the middle of tweets about Omar Infante and Anibal Sanchez, the Mariners traded Ichiro Suzuki to the Yankees. For two players about whom I honestly couldn't give less of a shit at the moment.

This is just a post going up for the sake of having a post go up, because I haven't even begun to process this and neither have you. Tonight the Mariners play the Yankees in Seattle, and Ichiro will be wearing the other uniform. I think this might be as close to inconceivable as it gets in sports. I never once could've conceived of the Mariners trading Ichiro anywhere. Abruptly, he's gone. We were given no warning, and Ichiro might not ever play another game in Seattle after Wednesday. It's a 12:40pm matinee, and I should hope it's going to sell the fuck out.

The Mariners made neither a good trade nor a bad trade. They made perhaps the most significant trade in the history of the franchise. I think we will probably have more posts in addition to this one. Seems appropriate.