Mariners Moose Tracks, 3/30/17: Drew Smyly, Hisashi Iwakuma, and Ichiro

Good morning folks! A lot of news to get to today, so let’s hop right to it.

In Mariners news...

• Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

• More progress for Tony Zych.

• Some scary news for Mariners fans as Drew Smyly was scratched from his final spring training start. Updates on his status are likely to come soon.
• Marc W at U.S.S. Mariner takes a look at Felix Hernandez’s fastball usage and placement as of late.
• Marc W also delved into Hisashi Iwakuma’s start from yesterday, which was extremely concerning.

Around the league...

• Sam Miller discusses possible solutions to keeping baseball fun. I’m sure you guys don’t need convincing, but some people do.
• Sports On Earth gives its predictions for the 2017 baseball season.
• MLB scouts gave their anonymous predictions of opposing teams at Sports Illustrated.
• Watch Carlos Correa play fetch with his adorable puppy.

• Apparently Ichiro isn’t planning on retiring, maybe ever. I wonder if eventually Ichiro will take a victory lap in Seattle. Would that be something we’d even want? So many questions.
• Shane Tourtellotte at The Hardball Times wonders if umpires become more or less likely to eject managers as they age.
• The Cubs have set themselves up to be baseball’s next big sports dynasty, writes Ryan Pollack at Fangraphs.
• Jeurys Familia has been suspended by the MLB for 15 games for domestic violence charges.

Anders’ picks...

• I wish I had known about this yesterday, but it’s never too late to celebrate!