Mariners Moose Tracks, 3/28/22: Julio, Ichiro, Albert

Whoops a doodle, we missed the links this morning! Sorry about that. Here’s some baseball news you can use:

In Seattle Mariners news:

• This article from the Athletic about the bond between Julio and Ichiro is a balm on the soul, if you’re needing that.
• If instead you would like to choose violence this morning, MLB ranked the teams by tiers of contenders. Maybe only click that one after you’ve had coffee and a sandwich.
• The Mariners re-assigned a handful of players (Forrest Wall, Kevin Padlo, Asher Wojciechowski, Josh Morgan, Marcus Wilson, Sam Haggerty, and Alberto Rodríguez) to minor-league camp. All but A-Rod will likely be ticketed for Tacoma to begin the season.
• No longer a Mariner, but always a Mariner in our hearts: old friend Braden Bishop, now with Arizona, broke up a perfect game bid by the Rangers in the sixth inning in a spring training game yesterday. Thanks for being a pal, Braden.
• North Little Rock and the Arkansas Travelers, Seattle’s Double-A affiliate, are currently arguing over who should pay for necessary upgrades at Dickey-Stephens Park. The Mariners don’t own the Travs, but it’d sure be nice for them to chip in something so their minor-league prospects don’t have to play in a stadium that suffers sinkholes every time the Arkansas River rises.

Around the league:

• Albert Pujols is heading back to the Cardinals on a one-year deal. I wish him the best and to go out in a blaze of glory and for the back end of his Angels career to be washed away utterly to the sands of time.
• The Yankees signed Shelby Miller to an MiLB deal, the kind of off-season move I’m sure the fanbase will take in stride.
• The Cubs have signed what’s believed to be the first-ever Bulgarian-born player to a pro contract.
• Ketel Marte and the Diamondbacks are reportedly in agreement on a contract extension:

Kate’s pick:

The Savannah Bananas continue to innovate. My only fear is that MLB (which is apparently currently experimenting with moving second base in the minors) will start to take some of these ideas seriously.